Dawn launches €46m plant
The scale of the Dawn Pac plant in Carmarthenshire, one of the most modern and sophisticated in Europe, was outlined last week when the Welsh Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies officially opened the plant.
Part of the Queally business empire, the Dawn Group has 13 plants in Ireland, Britain and France, which employs 2,800 people and has an annual turnover of €825m.
Product from Ireland and Britain is prepared for giant British retail outlets at the Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire plant by a workforce that will soon reach 650, making the Irish company the biggest private sector employer in West Wales.
Founded 25 years ago in Waterford, the group’s network includes six slaughter and deboning plants in Ireland, two in England and one in Scotland, a boning business in France and three retail packing plants in Britain.
Chief executive Dan Browne said the new state-of-the-art plant, on a 30-acre dedicated food park in Wales, is a statement of the group’s progress and where it believes the industry is at this time.
“Our role is to efficiently transform livestock to attractive quality products that are available on the multiple shelves at affordable prices, and which are nutritious and healthy.”
Mr Browne said the new plant is actually two plants, with a common dispatch area. The first plant is producing shelf-ready retail packs of beef and pork on a dedicated basis to ASDA-Walmart.
The second plant will manufacture an existing range of products and a new range of value-added products, both fresh and cooked. Products from at the second plant are already on the shelves of ASDA, Somerfield, Morrisons, Marks & Spencers, Sainsbury and Iceland. Mr Browne said consumers were demanding new products.
Modern lifestyle and consumer trends are fundamentally changing the way red meat is consumed.
“Consumers are demanding food that is easy to cook, good value and delivers consistently appetising meals that suit their mood and needs at the time.”
Mr Browne said it is predicted by 2010, some 64% of red meat consumption will be as added-value product, in or out of the home.
Dawn first established a plant in Cross Hands in 1992. But fire damage on the site three years ago threatened the company’s future in Wales.
However, Dawn worked with the Welsh Assembly Government, the Welsh Development Agency and Carmarthenshire County Council, and decided to develop a much larger operation.
Dawn Pac plant manager Mark Allan said the opening was a red letter day. “This investment puts us at the leading edge of the meat processing industry, and provides us with a plant that can cope with anticipated growth over the next ten years,” he said.
