Italy & UK: Carlsberg UK partners with Italian firm Simonazzi

A brewery from Yorkshire has welcomed a group of Italians to the region to advise it on the latest bottling and canning technology. Carlsberg UK is bringing brewing into the 21st Century by working in partnership with Italian firm Simonazzi. The company invested £23m into its Leeds brewery to install and develop the new bottling and canning lines. The plant is now producing 60,000 bottles and 90,000 cans an hour to ensure that demand will be met, in part, for this summer's World Cup, according to Yorkshire Post as of April 25.

The respective investment has been as a direct result of high volume growth in the 'take home' sector and it has created 24 extra jobs at the brewery. To cement the partnership and to make their guests more at home Italian signs were placed in and around the brewery and local streets.

Simonazzi is part of the Swiss-based Sidel Group-the world leader in packaging equipment and lines for liquid foods packaged in glass, plastic and cans. The Italians have injected new ideas and concepts into the long-established methods that are rooted in Carlsberg. The investment comes at a time when beer sales in the Western Europe are struggling and is seen as a clear indication of the strength of the UK market.

The Leeds location is a further indication of the importance of bottling and canning capacity for the north of the UK and the Italians have been responsible for the installation of both lines.
Gert Petersen, director of production, Carlsberg UK, said: 'This is a significant investment in the UK and provides a strong message that our brands are in demand and we are meeting the necessary requirements to increase our capacity. With more people enjoying our products at home, we needed to create capacity for small pack products."

In March 2004, Carlsberg decided to drop the Tetley name from the company title, though it is retained through the brewery's most popular and world-famous drink, Tetley Bitter. The company is now known as Carlsberg UK.Its breweries at Northampton and Leeds have the facilities between them to produce more than one billion pints of beer per year.

Head brewer Ian Smith said: "The new canning and bottling lines will be a major focus for us over the coming months and will generate further investment in the community with the recruitment of new employees to manage and run the lines."

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