Randers, 15 june 2010
With its focus on the future, the opening by Tulip Ltd. of the world's most modern sausage factory near Liverpool attracted a number of high-profile guests.
It was smiles and gleaming new machinery all round when, on 10 June, the Tulip Ltd. management and Niels Mikkelsen, Chairman of Danish Crown, welcomed everybody to the opening of the world's most modern sausage factory in Bromborough near Liverpool.
From here, Tulip Ltd. will meet much of the demand for the popular English breakfast sausages or ‘bangers’, and as the English eat around 175,000 tonnes of sausages a year, this market has huge potential.
Environmental focus
Every day lots of bangers pass through checkout tills in the UK, not least at the big supermarket chain TESCO. And for this very reason, the living British business legend and CEO of TESCO, Sir Terry Leahy, had been invited to officially open the factory together with Danish Crown’s Vice CEO, Carsten Jakobsen, following a guided tour of the production facilities.
- We have been producing sausages for TESCO for 30 years, and with the opening of this factory in Bromborough, we are ready for the next 30 years, said Carsten Jakobsen, who also stressed that in connection with the refurbishment of the factory, focus has not only been on producing lots of sausages.
- Tulip is a responsible company. Also as regards the people around us and the environment, and a lot of thinking has therefore gone into reducing consumption. The Bromborough factory is an example of a factory which incorporates environmental considerations at all levels.
Sir Terry Leahy also drew attention to the environmental focus which has gone into refurbishing the factory in Bromborough, and he stressed the fact that TESCO is also very focused on cutting energy consumption.
As the CEO of a chain which does not have its own production, he also thanked Tulip Ltd. for the excellent collaboration between the two companies, pointing out in particular TESCO's need to work with producers that are able to focus on quality, food safety, price and innovation all at the same time.
Learning about sausages
Innovation and product knowledge are key factors for the newly opened factory in Bromborough.
In addition to the factory, a new sausage academy has been established, which was also opened on 10 June.
- The factory can seem pretty big and intimidating, and therefore all employees have to try to make a sausage at the academy so that they are familiar with the entire process. We also hope that lots of locals will visit us and try their hand at making their own sausages. Before long, Bromborough may go from being simply Bromborough to being Bromborough, Home of the British Sausage, said Tulip Ltd.’s Marketing Director, Seamus Rooney, in connection with the opening of the academy, which was officially inaugurated by Mayor Alan Jennings together with Danish Crown’s Vice CEO, Carsten Jakobsen.
Facts, Bromborough
- The Bromborough factory was built by Tulip International in the mid-1990s for sliced products.
- It was closed down in connection with Tulip Ltd.’s merger with George Adams & Son about two years ago, and has now been totally refurbished and transformed into the most modern sausage factory in the world.
- The factory has a capacity of 1,000 tonnes a week and replaces the factory in Peckham in London which has a capacity of 550 tonnes a week.
- In connection with the refurbishment, a lot of thought has gone into reducing energy consumption, and compared with the Peckham factory, the factory in Bromborough uses 59% less water per tonne produced and 63% less electricity per tonne produced.
UK sausage facts
- Sausages are the favourite food of the English.
- Each year, a total of 175,000 tonnes of sausages are eaten in the UK at a total value of GBP 485 million (DKK 4.4 billion).
- There are 470 different types of English sausage.
- The British Sausage Appreciation Society has more than 7,000 members.