Investment in engineering fundamental to Holmesterne Foods growth plans

By Holmesterne Foods
schedule24th Jan 18

Proud to be ‘Yorkshire’!

Holmesterne Foods is a company with a proud Yorkshire heritage. Founded over 30 years ago by Yorkshire man Keith Tindell the company remains ever faithful to its roots and principles.

Managing Director Keith is still at the helm of this established food manufacturing business, having guided it to a position of strength and authority within its market places. Today Holmesterne supplies a very broad range of raw and cooked meat and vegetable products to customers across retail, manufacturing and food service, including the UK's leading supermarkets.

An unassuming company, Holmesterne has always gone about its business in a quiet and efficient manner, however recent opportunities to evaluate and embrace change have resulted in a planned and ongoing programme of investment in engineering upgrades and the addition of experienced industry professionals to strengthen the senior management team. A new set of dynamics is in place and high optimism as the company embarks on a path of planned growth and expansion.

Holmesterne’s strategic business development plan has 4 core principles at its heart:

·  Engineering innovation in production and manufacturing processes across the company’s three plants in Brompton-on- Swale and Leeming Bar

·  Key appointments at senior and middle management level to the technical and production teams

·  Transparency, teamwork and an open culture to motivate and inspire all personnel

·  Development of product ranges to service customers in new market opportunities

Head of Operations appointed to drive production efficiencies

Seasoned food manufacturing professional, Shaun Bedford, has joined the business as Head of Operations bringing over 25 years of knowledge and expertise across the industry to his new role. He has a proven track record of introducing automated lines to speed up production processes and output, reduce costs and increase yields.

Shaun is a driver of profitability, lean thinking and product and systems innovation; in the short time since he arrived he has already introduced automation to important manufacturing lines to speed up production processes and increase manufacturing output, at the same time reducing costs, increasing yields and inline efficiencies, along with cost engineering of current product lines to deliver better margins. Maintaining a competitive edge through price point manufacturing is an area where Shaun also has a proven track record of achievement.

A ‘people person’ Shaun has a transparent and clear management style that engages teams and improves work place culture and motivation. He will play a key part in strengthening and building the engineering and technical teams to ensure the skills are in place to deliver the company’s long term ambitions.

Engineering investment to automate processes and improve yield

Following a complete review of processes across the manufacturing lines the company has recently upgraded and added automation in 2 areas with more to be introduced in the first half of 2018:

Installation of Dolav Tipper delivers 25% increased manufacturing capacity

The addition of a high speed bacon slicer to this production line has delivered a significant set of benefits in addition to the improved output - product aesthetics and quality, with reduced overheads through the implementation of a new labour footprint.

Both these improvements are impacting significantly on Quality Control, inline efficiencies, labour utilisation, Health & Safety, yield recovery and waste management.

Speaking about his role Shaun commented: “My role is to facilitate – that’s how I’ve always operated throughout my career. I give people the tools and environment to do their jobs. I’m keen on team work to achieve goals. We’ve made some important additions already to the technical and production teams. The payback on our engineering investments has resulted in a leaner, more efficient business and a new energy we are channelling into both widening and growing our customer bases”.