Haribo have announced that they are able to create 50 new jobs at their facility in Castleford, West Yorkshire. The move comes as a result of success in the export side of the business, as they strike a lucrative deal to send their products to the US.
Bolstering staff
Despite the fact that Haribo plans to open a US factory in 2020, to keep up with the heavy demand for the sweets there, the UK is currently exporting so much of it to the US that they need to expand.
The family-owned UK-based business operates two factories in the UK – the other is in Pontefract. They currently employ more than 720 people, but will be aiming to increase their production in early 2020 by adding the 50 new staff members. You can keep an eye out for those jobs becoming available in our listings.
Part of the change will include moving to a three-shift system, from a current two-shift system. This will involve a lot of shake-up for the team, but having a whole new shift of employees ready to go will make that much easier.
“This is great news for our team, for our region and for UK manufacturing,” said the Managing Director of Haribo UK, Jon Hughes. “Our ambitious plans are being realised. Following the launch of our Castleford site, we brought full production of Maoam to the UK for the first time. From January 2020, we will be responsible for meeting the growing demand for Haribo across the US.”
Further expansions and improvements
This is the latest in a string of improvements for the Haribo UK team, who have been seeing an increase in demand across the UK as well as the US. After Haribo was introduced to the mass market in the US, demand was unprecedented, and allowed the UK and German manufacturing facilities an opportunity to be absolutely instrumental in the company’s future growth.
In 2013, the UK operations team made a significant investment at the Castleford site intended to increase manufacturing capabilities, meet demand in the UK, and expand their research and development team. They also looked to increase their export potential at that time, though it seems they have already outstripped that development.
Last month, Haribo UK also announced a partnership with the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship programme from Smallpiece Trust. This programme looks to find, inspire, and nurture the growth of engineering’s future leaders.
Moves like this demonstrate the company’s commitment to manufacturing excellence, and their understanding of how important it is to continue developing skills of this kind within the UK.
Haribo are funding five scholarships during the 2019/2020 period. If you are already an engineer or have finished this programme yourself, you may be interested in the engineering jobs we have available at this link. Haribo stated that they will continue to focus on encouraging women to take up engineering within the food and drink sector, as well as pushing more engineering excellence in the UK in general.
