Fife’s place in the milling industry has been secured for “many years to come” by the start of operations at a new £17m plant in Kirkcaldy, it has been claimed.
Carrs Milling Industries’ finance director George Wishart said the milestone at the Hutchisons site in East Bridge would keep his firm ahead of the competition in a tough market.
He said the existing milling plant would have required several million pounds of investment over the coming years “just to stand still”.
“The new mill will make it easier to comply with modern food safety standards, will enable us to get higher extraction from the wheat and reduce our energy costs,” Mr Wishart said.
“It’s the most modern mill in Britain. Generally it will help us become more efficient, and cement our place in the flour industry in Fife for many years to come.”
Construction of the mill, which is located next to the company’s wheat cellar, started last spring. It uses equipment from Swiss company Buhler who are the industry leader for the specialised milling machines.
Limited production at the new mill began this month, with the existing mill still in operation. Work at the new site will continue to increase until it reaches full capacity next month, at which point the old mill will cease operation.
No decision has been taken on its fate.
“The new mill will also lead to a small increase in the capacity, but the main benefit is the efficiency savings,” Mr Wishart said.
The Kirkcaldy mill employs 71 people and uses wheat from Scotland, England, Germany and Sweden to produce a variety of grades of flour.
The company was instrumental in Kirkcaldy Port seeing cargo ships for the first time in more than two decades.
Carrs was given a grant of more than £800,000 through a designated scheme which aims to take lorries off the road and have goods transported by sea or rail instead.
It has allowed the group to remove almost a quarter of a million lorry miles from Scotland’s roads every year.
“The port has been invaluable in the last year, allowing us to bring boatloads of wheat there,” Mr Wishart said.
“Previously we had to bring boats into Perth and road it down. The port has been another way of saving money.
“It was particularly important last year because it was such a poor harvest in the UK, and the country was a net importer of wheat.”
It is expected that the new facility will help boost margins in the difficult milling sector.