Branston Ltd completed a £2 million investment programme at its Scottish site last week.
The official opening of a new welfare block at the Abernethy factory last Monday marked the end of 12 months of redevelopment.
The supplier, which provides more than 50,000 tonnes of potatoes a year from its Scottish facility, has redesigned the layout of its production lines, introduced new machinery, constructed new extended dispatch bays and improved staff facilities.
The production line is the first in the world to have a Hayssen-Sandiacre TG350 Novus vertical form bagging machine installed and, according to Branston, it will benefit from higher output and lower running and maintenance costs.
The site is also the first in the UK to feature an Ishida CCWR214 multi-head weigher, which has been specially designed and installed for maincrop potatoes and offers unprecedented accuracy and increased throughput.
Eric Ritchie, Branston general manager in Scotland, said: “Branston acquired the Abernethy site from WCF in 2004. Since then, we’ve seen a substantial growth in demand. The factory has been expanded and developed each time the need to handle more potatoes arose. We had reached the point where is simply wasn’t possible to squeeze any more equipment into the building.
“With several more years of high growth predicted, we decided now was the right time to plan a more efficient production process. So we have invested some £2 million into changing the factory layout, removing and reinstalling the existing equipment, as well as introducing new, more efficient machinery and making several other improvements to the site. After 12 months of hard work, we now have one of the most efficient potato plants in the country.”
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