H. J. Heinz, Wigan

The H. J. Heinz, Wigan factory is a food manufacturing plant owned by H. J. Heinz Company, based in Kitt Green, Orrell, near Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It is the largest food processing plant in Europe and the largest H. J. Heinz facility in the world.[1][2]

H. J. Heinz, Wigan
Heinz factory in Kitt Green
Built21 May 1959
LocationKitt Green, Orrell
Coordinates53°33′6″N 2°40′59″W
IndustryFood processing
Employees850
Area55 acres
Owner(s)H. J. Heinz Company

Background

H. J. Heinz varieties first went on sale in Fortnum & Mason in 1886. After World War I, with a headquarters established in Hayes, London, Heinz started exporting Baked Beans, Spaghetti and Tomato Ketchup to the United Kingdom. Heinz opened its first UK production facility in Harlesden in the 1920s. During World War II this facility was bombed twice,[3] resulting in the takeover after the war of the former munitions factory at Standish near Wigan in 1946 to allow the restart of food production.[4]

Opening

Needing a new consolidated factory outside London, the site in Northwest England was chosen due to its ease of access to both the UK agricultural industry, as well as the Atlantic Ocean (Liverpool Docks) and Europe via the North Sea, to allow for easy and low-cost access of both raw product and the export of manufactured processed food.

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 factory from Gathurst Road

As the chosen 55-acre (22 ha) site allowed easy expansion. By the 1980s, the factory employed around 3,000 people,[5] and had taken over the production of all UK products from Harlesden except Heinz Tomato Ketchup. After Harlesden closed in 2000,[3] this has since also been produced at Kitt Green.[1] A steam plant with a capacity of 140 tonnes per hour was installed in 2005.[6]

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]

As of 2018, it employs 850 people,[7] the factory makes 1.5–3 million cans of Heinz Baked Beans per day, and more than 1 billion cans a year of their product range overall,[1] amounting to 383 thousand tonnes.[8] It is the largest food processing plant in Europe and the largest of Heinz's factories around the world.[1][2][9]

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]

References
  1. "Heinz Beanz Factory Celebrates Golden Jubilee With Visit From The Queen". PR NewsWire. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  2. Heinz Canning Plant Energy Efficiency Expansion, Food Processing Technology, retrieved 13 December 2008
  3. "Secret history". The Brent Magazine. London Borough of Brent. April 2009. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010.
  4. "About Heinz". H. J. Heinz Company. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  5. Jess Quayle (28 March 2019). "Can post-industrial towns survive automation?". BBC NEWS.
  6. "Heinz Canning Plant Energy Efficiency Expansion". Food Processing Technology. 2006. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03.
  7. "Heinz invests £20m in Wigan factory". Wigan Today. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  8. "Kraft Heinz invests £20m in Wigan site". foodmanufacture.co.uk. 2018-08-10.
  9. "About Heinz - Heinz UK and Ireland". Heinz. Archived from the original on 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
  10. "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.


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