The investment in the 101-year-old factory in Aintree, Liverpool, is part of efforts to boost overall output and modernise the company’s facilities in the UK.
A UB spokesman said: “The £10M is capital investment that will go towards general repairs/maintenance to the site’s buildings.”
Savoury products
The Aintree factory is being turned into a centre of excellence for savoury products, UB’s then group supply chain director Kevin McGurk told FoodManufacture.co.uk in May.
Jacob’s Cream Crackers factory at a glance
- £10M investment plan
- More than 55,000t of products each year.
- Opened in 1914
- Manufactures Mini Cheddars, Club biscuits and Twiglets
- 800 workers
“Typically, the biscuit industry invests 3.5% to 4% of revenue a year in its sites, but we’ve invested about 6% and will continue to do so as part of our modernisation plans,” McGurk said.
The modernisation of the Aintree plant comes after an industrial dispute over sick pay and rumours that production would be outsourced to other facilities in 2014.
‘Record levels of absenteeism’
At the time, UB said it had been forced to temporarily suspend company sick pay at the factory in response to “record levels of absenteeism”.
Jacob’s Aintree plant has 800 workers and produces brands such as Mini Cheddars, Club biscuits and Twiglets.
Last year UB was sold for a reported £2bn to Yildiz, a holding company of the Turkish manufacturer Ulker Biskuvi Sanayi.
An initial £50M investment was completed at the company’s Harlesden biscuit factory earlier this year.
UB modernisation plans
“Typically, the biscuit industry invests 3.5% to 4% of revenue a year in its sites, but we’ve invested about 6% and will continue to do so as part of our modernisation plans.”
- Kevin McGurk, former group supply chain director at UB