Tulip have announced that they are to make an investment of £10 million to increase their production capabilities. Their Redruth, Cornwall site will be the target of the funding, which will focus on both capacity and efficiency improvements.
Changes for production lines
Some details about what the funding will be spent on have already been released. The Redruth site’s overall efficiency will be raised through a number of targets, such as new high-speed slicing lines, new processes to reduce packaging costs, and new equipment. All of this should help them to produce their product lines more rapidly, allowing the company to save money as well as create more profit.
The facility currently employs around 500 people. It has not yet been made clear whether they will be aiming to hire more staff to cope with the additional lines, but if they do, you can stay informed by checking our job listings.
The staff who do work there will benefit imminently from the extra investment the company is putting into skills training, as well as improving their innovation staff to help drive new product development. This, the company said in a statement, will help them to “lead in meeting evolving consumer demands”.
Innovation commitments
The company has already been known for creating innovations in the pork industry. Their new product development team has recently been focused on reducing salt and nitrates in their lines, as well as creating some products which are nitrate-free.
There have been some great successes with this programme to date. One of these was to enable Tulip to reduce salt across all of their bacon products in 2018. Earlier in 2019, they also managed to reduce the salt content throughout their gammon range. NPD jobs, are often at the forefront of creating healthier ranges in the current consumer climate.
“This is an exciting time for Redruth and this investment shows our desire to create the UK’s leading bacon manufacturing site. Investing in both our facilities and people ensures we can continue to lead the way in bacon production and drive growth for Tulip and the category as a whole,” said Peter Broomfield, the Site Director at Tulip Redruth.
“This investment, which comes on the back of a significant bacon contract win for Redruth, forms part of renewed customer focus as we look to drive growth for Tulip and with the challenging bacon category,” said Andrew Cracknell, the Chief Executive Officer of Tulip. “It also demonstrates our on-going commitment to the Cornwall region and puts us in a robust position to grow the site & category in the years to come.”
Tulip’s parent company, Danish Crown, recently weathered what they called a “challenging six months”. However, that seems to be behind them – as they reported financial growth in May, following a slew of investments and upgrades across the business. They are not afraid to make rapid changes, investing and cutting funding where it seems necessary.
