The food giant had already pumped £20M into a new Mr Kipling cake production line at its plant near Barnsley last year, but investment at the firm’s other sites was needed, Darby added.
“We’ve got our foot on the gas in terms of investing,” he told FoodManufacture.co.uk in this video.
“We’re beginning to invest in our factories for the first time [in a while] … in the year going forward, we will be going into a £20M to £25M ongoing capital investment.”
Opportunities to improve
Although Premier Foods’s facilities were relatively “well invested” already, there were opportunities to improve certain facilities by investing in palletisers and other automation equipment, he added.
“Investment in people is also important, which is perhaps undervalued and forgotten and I feel passionately about that,” said Darby.
To listen to Darby’s update on Premier Foods’s recovery plan, watch the rest of this video.
Meanwhile, read the March issue of Food Manufacture to see an exclusive interview with Darby.