Business

Greiner announce £10m investment in Dungannon packaging plant

Quality Street box maker marks 50 years in business

Jarek Zasadzinski (centre) planting five trees in Dungannon with the Greiner Family Council from Austria (L-R): Barbara Mechtler-Habig, Peter Greiner, Christof Greiner and Dominik Greiner. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.
Jarek Zasadzinski (centre) planting five trees in Dungannon with the Greiner Family Council from Austria (L-R): Barbara Mechtler-Habig, Peter Greiner, Christof Greiner and Dominik Greiner. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Jarek Zasadzinski (centre) planting five trees in Dungannon with the Greiner Family Council from Austria (L-R): Barbara Mechtler-Habig, Peter Greiner, Christof Greiner and Dominik Greiner. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

THE Dungannon plastics company behind the modern Quality Street box has announced a £10 million expansion programme as part of its goal of becoming a £100m operation in the next three years.

The announcement by Greiner Packaging on Tuesday came as the company, formerly known as Wilsanco, marked 50 years in business in Co Tyrone.

While it has a relatively low profile in Northern Ireland, Greiner’s products for the dairy, food and confectionary industry are in most shops and homes across the country.

It manufactures around five million plastic pots per day in Dungannon for major dairy producers including Dale Farm, Yeo Valley, Arla and Irish Yogurts.

It also makes soup, noodle and porridge pots and every year, manufactures around 18 million Quality Street boxes for Nestlé.

Part of the family-owned Greiner AG, which is based in Austria, the packaging company has invested £35m in Dungannon since acquiring the business from the Wilson family in 2006.

Then a £15m a year business, Greiner Packaging UK is now generating close to £60m a year, employing 320 people.

Although a major global operation spanning 39 countries and with a workforce of 11,000 people, Greiner AG remains 100 per cent family-owned. Since 2010, a four-person family council has represented the interests of the Greiner family.

On Tuesday, the four member Greiner Family Council visited its Dungannon site to plant five trees to mark its 50th anniversary.

Greiner’s packaging division remains a key part of the group, employing 4,000 people, with Dungannon the base for its UK packaging business.

Jarek Zasadzinski is operations director at Greiner Packaging International, but he has been closely involved with the Dungannon site since 2006.

Discussing the group’s long-term commitment to Co Tyrone, he said: “Right now, even post-Brexit, it’s the best of two worlds for us. Northern Ireland is in a very special political situation right now.

“As part of the Northern Ireland Protocol we have one leg in the EU and the other leg in GB, which is still a good thing for us.

“From a location point of view, we’re kind of middle of the UK, even though we’re on the side. But it is cheaper for us to load and deliver from here to London than from Manchester to London. Because Northern Ireland is a net importer of goods and we’re back loading everything to the UK mainland.”

The Polish native said the 50-year connection with Co Tyrone has created a strong local skills base, which the company continues to develop via apprenticeships.

Mr Zasadzinski said the £10m investment is expected to kick off next year with the expansion of the factory’s manufacturing hall.

It will result in increased productivity, but the company also continues to invest heavily in innovation, particularly around repurposing recycled plastic back into its product lines.

Last year saw Greiner pump £3.7m into a new Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) decontamination system in Dungannon, that allows recycled consumer plastics to be returned for use in food contact materials.

Demand for plastic packaging with recycled content is at an all-time high since the UK's plastic packaging tax came into force in April. It places a levy on packaging that contains less than 30 per cent recycled content.

Greiner's innovation in the circular economy has also resulted in a system where energy produced from its manufacturing process is transferred to heat the neighbouring Dungannon Integrated College, saving thousands of litres in heating oil each year.