Organic tea maker sets out 10-year vision

By Noli Dinkovski

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Food manufacture Potato chip

Organic tea maker Clipper will be able to meet predicted growth for the next 10 years when its new “best-in class” facility opens in the autumn, according to the man in charge of overseeing the development.

In this exclusive interview, Mark Bagwell – operations director at parent company Wessanen UK – said the new factory would make the business more efficient while providing the capacity to fulfil estimated demand for a decade.

The new development will put all of Clipper’s operations in Beaminster under the same roof, Bagwell explained.

“Now, we have a very inefficient process, where we have to transport product from one end of the site to the other, and then sometimes back again,” ​he said.

‘Handled 32 times’

“We did a quick, lean exercise to understand what that meant to us, and we realised that each of our products was actually handled 32 times as a minimum, and travelled about 1km – just across this very small site alone.”

Bagwell also believed the new facility would be important for staff.

“The team here are really committed, and we need them to have a world-class, best-in-class facility.”

Find out more about how the organic and Fairtrade specialist makes its tea in this exclusive photogallery of images​ taken from Food Manufacture’s​ tour of the existing operation.

And to read more about how Bagwell plans to make Clipper a global brand – part of our ‘Me and My Factory’ series of profiles – order your copy of the June issue of Food Manufacture magazine​.

Nim’s Fruit Crisps

Meanwhile, the founder of a fast-growing innovative crisp firm has claimed the strong reputation of UK produce will put the country in good stead when it leaves the EU.

In this exclusive video​, Nim’s Fruit Crisps boss Nimisha Raja explained that there would always be customers wanting a British product.

You can view how Raja produces her novel range of air-dried fruit and vegetable crisps in this exclusive tour​ of the company’s new 929m2​ factory in Kent.

Do you and your factory have a story to tell? If you think you would make a suitable Me and My Factory candidate, Food Manufacture’s associate editor Noli Dinkovski​ would love to hear from you.

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