Scottish bakery company Auld’s has opened a new new frozen foods factory at Inchinnan Business Park, eight weeks after the original factory was totally destroyed by fire.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Production started on Monday at a new £2m (US$3.4m) semi permanent building and the company confirmed that all 210 of the original Inchinnan workforce were now back at work.
The new 25,000 sq ft temporary production facility, including production space, office and a laboratory, has been built in only five weeks, on land owned by Aulds, immediately adjacent to the original factory site, the company said.
The building contractors, De Boer, specialise in semi-permanent buildings, required in the event of emergencies or special occasions. Recently, the same company provided temporary buildings at the G8 summit at Gleneagles, the Live8 concert in London and the MTV Awards in Edinburgh.
Alan Marr, managing director, Aulds (Food) Ltd said, “We have watched with amazement at how quickly our new temporary home has been constructed. We are so happy to get production up and running here in time for the Xmas rush and we look forward to working with our customers to meet their demands over this busy period.”
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData“It has been without doubt one the most challenging periods in the company’s one hundred years history and collectively, we take an enormous amount of pride in reaching this position, only eight weeks down the line, with not one job or customer lost.”
The new temporary factory has also been audited and approved by Aulds’ customers who have been, according to Alan Marr, “magnificent in their support and backing for us throughout our battle to overcome this momentous challenge.”
Marr expected the temporary factory to be in use for around 18 months, allowing time for a brand new, purpose built permanent facility to be built.
Since the fire on 16 September 2005 which completely destroyed the Inchinnan factory, Aulds has managed to ensure continuity of supply to its major foodservice customers by shifting some work to its main factory in Greenock and opening temporary production units in Paisley, Clydebank and East Kilbride.
The production units at Clydebank and East Kilbride have now been transferred back to Inchinnan while the sandwich production unit in Paisley will continue for the time being.
“There has been a fantastic display of commitment from our workforce,” Marr said. “Many of our people have been asked to take on different work in different locations, many involving extra travel time and they have responded magnificently, often working longer hours, to maintain the supply of products to our customers.”
He acknowledged the very speedy and helpful response the company had received from Renfrewshire Council’s planning, building control and environmental health officers.
