Avara Foods has announced plans to invest around £10m this financial year in their Telford facility, focusing on the advanced technology needed to ensure that Telford remains a model of a modern food processing facility.
Installing the latest generation of automated de-boning technology will increase production volumes and improve the overall efficiency of the site, as well as creating more skilled job opportunities, for those looking to work with cutting-edge technology and oversee automation.
Commenting on the investment, site manager Pete McMillan MBE said, “We have a long and happy history in Telford and this is an exciting time for everyone. This site has been widely recognised as one of the most advanced of its kind and this latest investment is commitment to its future and retaining that status.”
The £10m being invested at Telford is one part of Avara’s wider plan to invest more than £100m across its key food manufacturing sites over the next three years, with £40m earmarked for this year alone. The investment plan will strengthen its UK poultry operations, upgrade facilities and introduce next-generation technology across its supply chain, creating more skilled job opportunities across its network
Commenting on the plan Chris Hall Avara CEO said, “This is an ambitious UK investment programme that will build on our existing position as a strong and sustainable partner to our retail and restaurant customers; supplying affordable and locally sourced poultry, produced to the high standards that British consumers demand.”
The investment will include significant upgrades across the company’s chicken supply chain, including in Brackley, Wednesbury and Hereford, as well as the changes in Telford.
Hall added: “This is a significant investment in the future of our business and in the resilience of the UK poultry supply chain, which must remain competitive, reliable and able to grow.
“Over the last three years, we have completed a comprehensive restructuring of our business and are seeing improved financial performance as a result. That improvement is enabling us to invest in our future and make sure that the benefits of British chicken – being local, affordable and produced to high standards – are widely available for years to come.”
Source: Shropshire Live
