A man in a pink shirt outside Macphie's Tannochside factory

Source: Macphie

Macphie CEO Andy Stapley at the Tannochside site

Ingredients supplier Macphie has completed a £4m refurbishment of its Tannochside facility which has helped create more than 40 jobs.

The facility in North Lanarkshire has restarted full scale production for the first time since it consolidated all operations to its Glenbervie headquarters in mid-2020 – a move it said was in response to the forced closure of many of its customers’ businesses.

Since then, the site has been stripped back to bricks before a £4m refit and layout change completed. This, Macphie said, will enable it to add new lines over the over the coming months as part of major business growth plans with output at the facility expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels before the end of the year.

The 25,000 sq ft facility will predominantly produce ice cream inclusions. Investment in equipment, including ‘state-of-the-art’ manufacturing lines and end-of-line packaging machinery will enable it to compete for and deliver further contracts in the ice cream and frozen dessert market. The refit was overseen by Atom (TPM) Ltd and delivered by Marshall Construction.

“This is our biggest ever investment programme at Tannochside since we acquired the site in 2000 and is a show of our long-term commitment to the region,” said Macphie CEO Andy Stapley.

“This investment has enabled us to create and fill 40 new jobs in a part of the country that has experienced a number of permanent factory closure.”

Stapley added that Macphie anticipates production to “grow rapidly” over the next 12 months which will see it create more jobs in a broad range of positions.

Established in 1928 Macphie now employs more than 250 people across its three sites in Scotland. The firm has grown from its roots as a craft baker into an ingredients supplier worth over £60m, supplying global food brands and the wholesale sector.