The AkzoNobel paint factory in Ashington has celebrated its second anniversary with news that it has produced a million litres of paint in one week for the first time.
AkzoNobel Ashington uses cutting-edge manufacturing technologies brought together from company sites all over the world, with the multinational, Dutch-based firm transferring manufacturing to Northumberland from a number of global sites over the last two years.
The plant, which employs around 160 people and supports around 100 more in the local supply chain, is now aiming to increase production capacity by another 50% to make 1.5m litres of paint each per week.
Jeff Hope, head of manufacturing unit at AkzoNobel Ashington, said: “The high levels of automation on site mean that we have access to an incredible amount of data for all of our processes. This means we can monitor every aspect of the manufacturing process to identify key areas where we can make improvements and ultimately increase production capacity whilst maintaining consistent quality.
“Hitting one million litres in a week is an incredible achievement which is testament to the outstanding culture of the fantastic team at the site and their relentless pursuit of operational excellence.”
He added: “With an outstanding culture, there is no limit to what can be achieved here in Northumberland.
“This time last year, we were producing around 500,000 litres of paint per week. To have doubled our capacity in time for the site’s second birthday is absolutely phenomenal and I couldn’t be prouder of the team for making it happen.”
The millionth litre - a white Dulux Valentine Colour Resist paint for the French market - was filled by process operator Iain MacPherson.
He said: “Achieving the one million litre milestone has been a real team effort which everyone on site is immensely proud of.
“Since paint first started rolling off the production lines at AkzoNobel Ashington over two years ago, we have been working towards hitting our one million litre milestone, but in order to turn our dream into a reality, we’ve had to build and continuously improve very precise processes.
“It has been a lengthy and at times complex process, but the team have really pulled together and we were absolutely delighted to finally hit one million litres in a week. The atmosphere on site was absolutely electric, even at 4am after a night shift!”
