Mondelez International is to invest £30m at its Banbury coffee plant in Oxfordshire, creating 80 jobs. But the investment in two new Tassimo coffee production lines, to be installed next year, was conditional on commitments to flexibility and cost competitiveness, said the manufacturer.
The spending will boost capacity for its Tassimo single-serve beverage capsules. The system caters for a range of products, including Jacobs, Costa coffees and Cadbury hot chocolate.
Tassimo capsules produced in Banbury will be exported to Western European coffee markets in France and Spain as well as for UK outlets.
Mondelez senior vice president, Integrated Supply Chain for Europe, Phil Hodges said: The investment is part of our vision to manufacture our products on state-of-the-art line that will enable us to meet growing demand while increasing our competitiveness. The latest spending underscored the firms commitment to UK manufacturing.
Following similar investments during the past 18 months at Bournville and Sheffield, the spending took the firms total European investment to $1.5bn since 2010.
Hodges also added; the investment opportunity in Banbury is part of our ongoing supply chain reinvention plan, we are implementing several such initiatives around the world to capitalise on growing demand, while also reducing costs and improving productivity.
Head of manufacturing at the Banbury site, Paul Sinclair, said the UK remained a prime location for large-scale manufacturing.
We are committed to securing this investment for Banbury by increasing flexibility and competitiveness. We are excited about showcasing the quality we can deliver to coffee drinkers in the UK and abroad by producing Tassimo in our factory.