Inspired Pet Nutrition, owner of the Harringtons and Wagg pet food brands, is investing more than £6m at its plant at Kinmel, North Wales.
A second processing and filling line at the plant will be created later this year, scheduled to be operational by January 2023. The new line will be three times faster than the existing line and will be focused on wet tray production for Harringtons as well as additional own-label lines. The new filling equipment will also enable IPN to offer customers a choice of wet tray formats, including fully-recyclable aluminium trays.
The injection of funding will eventually triple the site’s wet dog food tray capacity to more than 75 million units a year. Overall, wet dog food capacity will be increasing by 75% compared to last year, with further increases over the next 18 months as the investment project is completed.
Turnover at IPN Kinmel has nearly doubled in two years, rising from £11.5 million during the year ending June 2019 to more than £20 million in the last financial year ending in June 2021.
Dominic Whelan, site operations manager at IPN Kinmel, said: “The wet tray market in both the branded and own label sectors looks set for even further growth, and this significant investment will ensure we can meet demand. Two years ago, IPN Kinmel produced about 4,000 tonnes of finished goods, this has now risen to an astonishing 10,500 tonnes.”
James Lawson, CEO at IPN, added: “This is an exciting development for the business as we will significantly increase production at Kinmel – the UK’s only FreshCook and carbon negative wet food facility – and it will help us on our journey to become the UK’s most sustainable pet food manufacturer. The investment will also play a key role in making Harringtons a £100 million Masterbrand across multiple categories and species.”
