DRINKS firm Diageo has produced 12.5 million cases of beer at its canning and bottling facility in east Belfast in what it said was a new record for the facility.
The plant on Marshall's Road employs 136 people and has undergone an improvement programme over the past 18 months.
It has been in operation for more than three decades.
Around 60 per cent of beer produced is sold in Ireland with the remainder exported to markets in Europe, North America and Asia.
Running at full capacity, the site can produce two million cans and bottles of beer in one day.
That follows a series of upgrades over the last decade including a can filler with widget inserter technology for cans of Draught Guinness, providing the capability to produce 60,000 cans per hour.
The facility's production manager Gary Simpson said: “All of our people at Belfast Packaging are proud to be setting production records and playing such an important role in supplying our home and international markets with Diageo’s great range of beers, including Guinness, Harp and Smithwick’s.
"The ‘Manufacturing Excellence' programme of continuous performance improvement will ensure that our site in east Belfast is ready and able to meet increased production levels as new innovations and the improvement in the overall beer market drives more demand.”
East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson who recently visited the plant said it had, "made a telling contribution over the last 30 years to our local community in east Belfast as well as having a wider impact on the economy of Northern Ireland by developing and packaging produce which is being exported globally".
"East Belfast has a strong and cherished history of manufacturing some of the world’s greatest products and Diageo significantly adds to that long standing heritage," he added.
"The level of production at Marshall’s Road and Diageo’s ongoing investment is a boost not only for east Belfast but for Northern Ireland plc.”
