Management at a Lincolnshire pet food manufacturer say they are benefiting from taking the decision to invest £5 million in the business at the height of the pandemic.
The team at Grove Pet Foods built a new packing hall at its North Scarle site earlier this year, before installing a new bagging machine at a cost of £2.5 million.
The new bagging line, which handles 90g to 6kg bags, is fully automated and shares the new hall with a much bigger line, filling 6kg to 25 kg bags.
The business has invested a further £1.5 million in a warehouse, which has been built over the past five months, and which provides 3,000 pallet spaces.
Site production manager Richard Cornwell said these investments were helping Grove meet rising demand, with the company targeting potential customers at home and overseas.
Mr Cornwell said: “Coincidentally, the upgrading of the site’s facilities has happened at a time when the 海角视频 alone has seen a massive surge in pet ownership, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, seeing people forced to isolate or switch to working from home.
“These investments mean members of our 80-strong team – who work 24 hours shifts over five days each week producing 400 to 450 tonnes of complete dried pet food and mixer – are well-placed to help drive the projected growth of the business.
“Our small bags processing line has automated a process which was previously carried out by hand.
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“It has made it easier for staff to carry out quality checks and increased overall efficiency.”
Grove makes foods for dogs, cats, hedgehogs, rabbits, swans, ducks and fish and Richard said the company’s equipment has created slicker operations all-round.
Mr Cornwell said: “We pay great attention to detail and quality is our priority from the moment we receive the raw materials to creating and despatching foods to our customers.
“For instance, we have a special optical sorting system, which can identify foreign bodies and check the product is to specification. We also x-ray our products. This gives us extra confidence in our products.”
Grove produces its own Vitalin and Alpha foods, but foods for other brands – supplying a variety of wholesale customers.
He said: “It’s not all destined for the home market either.
“Export sales account for about 20 per cent of our production at North Scarle, with orders shipped throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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“There are plenty of other potential customers for our sales and marketing people to target.
He said the confident outlook followed exponential growth over the last five years.
Grove Pet Foods also has a smaller production site in Retford and a distribution hub at Garmston, which are both in Nottinghamshire.