H. J. Heinz, Wigan
H. J. Heinz, Wigan | |
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H. J. Heinz Company |
The H. J. Heinz, Wigan
Background
H. J. Heinz varieties first went on sale in
Opening
Needing a new consolidated factory outside London, the site in
The Kitt Green factory was opened on 21 May 1959 by the Lord Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir. A few weeks later it was visited by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 24 June 1959.[1]
Operations
The chosen 55-acre (22 ha) site allowed easy expansion. By the 1980s, the factory employed around 3,000 people,[7] and during the decade was converted to high-speed automation.[4] It had taken over the production of all UK products from Harlesden except Heinz Tomato Ketchup.[citation needed] After Harlesden closed in 2000,[5] ketchup production was moved to Holland.[8][9] A steam plant with a capacity of 140 tonnes per hour was installed in 2005, one of the largest of these type of installations in the UK.[9]
The factory celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009, with a visit by HM Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh who also opened a new packaging hall.[1] In 2013, the factory was listed by Discovery Channel as one of the world's top five manufacturing units, alongside: Reliance's Jamnagar Refinery; Volkswagen's car plant; NASA's Kennedy Space Center; POSCO's steel plant.[10]
As of 2019, the factory employs 850 people.[6] It makes 1.5–3 million cans of Heinz Baked Beans per day and more than 1.3 billion cans of food a year,[1][8] which is around 383 thousand tonnes (377,000 long tons) annually.[11] It is one of the largest food processing plants in Europe and the largest of Heinz's factories around the world.[1][2][12]
Investment in the site has increased since Heinz's merger with
Future
In January 2021, Kraft Heinz began running trials moving goods by
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Heinz Beanz Factory Celebrates Golden Jubilee With Visit From The Queen". PR NewsWire. 21 May 2009. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ a b Heinz Canning Plant Energy Efficiency Expansion, Food Processing Technology, retrieved 13 December 2008
- H. J. Heinz Company. Archived from the originalon 28 July 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ a b c T. Farrell (16 February 2015). "Full of Beans: Heinz in the UK". Let's Look Again.
- ^ a b "Secret history". The Brent Magazine. London Borough of Brent. April 2009. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010.
- ^ Wigan Today. 1 June 2021.
- ^ Jess Quayle (28 March 2019). "Can post-industrial towns survive automation?". BBC News.
- ^ a b "Kraft Heinz to invest in the UK to make tomato ketchup". BBC News. 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b "Heinz Canning Plant Energy Efficiency Expansion". Food Processing Technology. 2006. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03.
- ^ "RIL's Jamnagar Refinery Listed Among The World's Top Five Refineries". GroundReport. 2012-10-30. Archived from the original on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
- ^ a b "Kraft Heinz invests £20m in Wigan site". foodmanufacture.co.uk. 2018-08-10.
- ^ "About Heinz - Heinz UK and Ireland". Heinz. Archived from the original on 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
- ^ "Heinz invests £20m in Wigan factory". Wigan Today. 24 August 2018.
- ^ "Freightliner means beans for Kraft Heinz". RailFraight.com. 21 January 2021.
- ^ Ruth Dacey (27 January 2021). "How Heinz are moving more baked beans across Europe thanks to innovative Yorkshire plan". The Yorkshire Post.