Walkers has completed a £6M investment at its crisp factory in Leicester to boost production, upgrade its packaging technology and introduce measures that will help lower its carbon footprint. The move will create up to 50 jobs.
A company spokesman said that the firm had been struggling to keep up with consumer demand for brands such as Wotsits, Chipsticks and Frazzles, and had hence spent £2M to boost production by up to 20%.
"Walkers has also invested £2M on upgraded packaging technology, and £2M on new energy efficient technology, such as high efficiency gas burners and low energy lighting," he said.
The Leicester site has been striving to lower its carbon dioxide emissions for sometime, he continued. In 2007, Walkers became the first consumer brand in the world to introduce the Carbon Trust's carbon reduction label, which had "galvanised the business's efforts to reduce its carbon emissions", he said.