Heinz factory tells Gregg Wallace it had to order an extra 800 tonnes of ingredients to make an additional 800,000 cases of beans in a WEEK at the peak of coronavirus panic buying
- Heinz factory nearly doubled production to cope with demand during crisis
- Gregg Wallace met operations managers John Brockley and Anthony Foster
- Brockley told of large increase in import of ingredients from North America
- Inside the Factory: Keeping Britain Going airs this evening on BBC2 at 8pm
Heinz has revealed how it had to order and extra 800 tonnes of ingredients and ramp up its production to meet the unprecedented demand for baked beans caused by the coronavirus crisis.
As factories across the UK adapt to match the exceptional clamour for long-lasting produce caused by the pandemic, Gregg Wallace met factory workers toiling round the clock for the new BBC2 documentary ‘Inside the Factory: Keeping Britain Going’.
He learned that one baked bean factory in Wigan upped its production to deliver almost 50 million cans of beans in just one month, and during the peak of panic buying it distributed 2.7 million cases in one week, compared to the usual 1.9 million.
Operations manager John Brockley and manager Anthony Foster told how they’ve had to to increase imports of ingredients from North America, ordering an extra 800 tonnesto meet demand.
Heinz has nearly doubled its production of tinned goods to cope with the unprecedented demand caused by the coronavirus crisis. Pictured, national distribution centre manager, Anthony Foster
Gregg Wallace (pictured) met factory workers toiling round the clock in new BBC2 documentary ‘Inside the Factory: Keeping Britain Going’
John said: [it’s been] ‘Absolutely flat out, big increase in tinned goods.
‘[There are] lots of people at home at the moment, children as well, and good old staple beans on toast for your dinner is out driving our market at the moment – I’d say 40-45 per cent.’
Gregg quizzed the manager who he chatted to in a previous episode of Inside The Factory, saying: ‘When I met you, you were making about three millions cans a day, so what is that now?’
He replied: ‘I would say around average of four and a half million.’
Operations manager John Brockley (pictured) told how imports of ingredients from North America has increased, with an extra ship carrying 800 tonnes travelling to the UK
The factory has temporarily simplified the line, producing less variety of products and focusing on making more of the in-demand items. Pictured, operations manager John
John went on to explain that while they would usually import two ships worth of ingredients from North America, they’ve had to order an extra 800 tonnes of ingredients.
‘One ship would carry 400 containers, which is about 800 tonnes, said John.
‘The normal amount we would have is two ships at sea, taking about twelve days. recently we’ve been shipping three. We have an extra 800 tonnes on its way.’
The factory has temporarily simplified the line, producing less variety of products and focusing on making more of the in-demand items.
They have also increased shifts, and only stop the line for one 24-hour period at the weekend, instead of 48 hours, to do essential maintenance.
Gregg was told before panic buying caused by the coronavirus, the warehouse would distribute 1.9 million cases per week, however at the peak of the pandemic were distributing an extra 0.8 million cases
Gregg spoke to manager Anthony Foster at their nearby national distribution center, a giant warehouse which holds almost all of Heinz’ products before they hit the supermarket.
He explained that before panic buying caused by the coronavirus, the warehouse would distribute 1.9 million cases per week, however at the peak of the pandemic were distributing an extra 0.8 million cases.
The manager told: ‘Prior to February, this unit was distributing about 1.9 million cases per week and during the period of panic buying this went up to 2.4 and peaked at 2.7 million , which was a record breaking week for the size. Just to put that in perspective it’s 134 lorry loads.’
Speaking of how the warehouse adapted to the crisis, he added: ‘One of the key things we needed to do was change the way people ordered stocks.
‘We asked our customers to order in a full palette quantity, a number of the retailers started ordering full palette quantities and we also started an online service so they could order small quantities of stock direct to their home if they needed it.’
Advertisement
