A three year investment programme in excess of £10 million has transformed the Aston Manor site at Tiverton in Devon and delivered the capacity and capability for the cider maker to out-perform a buoyant cider sector.
The facility has increased production so that around 2¼ million litres (or 4 million pints) of cider a week are packaged and dispatched for sale across the UK and worldwide. And the expanded capacity has been created to sustain future growth, with significant investment to increase the flexibility and capability of the plant so that it can cope with more than 20 different products across a range of pack formats.
On the third anniversary of the acquisition of the site, Aston Manor managing director Peter Ellis declared himself delighted with progress and determined to do even more, he said:
“What we have achieved has been better than we might have hoped – which gives us the confidence to invest further and make an excellent operation even better.”
Dramatic sales growth
Total sales for Aston Manor were £79m in 2010, £106m in 2011 and the business will post further growth in 2012 in a market sector that is flat after several years of exceptional performance.
Peter Ellis added:
“What particularly excites me about performance at the Tiverton site is that on every measure – not just volumes produced – we are delivering great results with more to come.
“So, for example, we are able to sustain more employment for local people, improve the environmental impact of the plant, and give ourselves the tools to exploit the opportunities to grow our business – where particularly in export markets and with premium ciders we are well placed.”
Future investment plans
Paul Clifford is the senior Aston Manor man responsible for the factory and investment. He said:
“Having more than doubled the number of people working here they have responded to every challenge fantastically to secure the progress we have made. We will need more of the same as we look to invest further in things like warehousing capacity, and replacing kit with cleaner, quieter and more efficient technologies.
“Perhaps the best example of what we have achieved is in a much better environmental performance from the site, delivered at a time when we have a more complex operation producing much greater volumes.”
UK’s largest independent cider maker
Aston Manor is now the largest independent cider maker in the UK and the second largest producer by volume. The success of the business is attributed to the breadth of portfolio of ciders made and the flexibility of operations.
Aston Manor acquired the site in Tiverton in November 2009, at the time around 35-40 people were employed. The site now employs more than 80 people with further recruitment planned. The 32 fermentation tanks on site have a total capacity of over 4 million litres of cider (or over 7 million pints). The bonded warehouse at Tiverton will store around 6,000 pallets of finished product, or over 5 million litres of cider.
From Orchard to Glass, Aston Manor is the UK’s largest independent cider maker. The company is 100% family owned with an ethos to deliver only the finest products, and has over 300 acres of orchards in Malvern from which they create a wide range of cider brands.
The products range from mainstream to award-winning ciders such as Malvern Oak and Malvern Gold and through to organic cider produced for Duchy Originals.
Established in 1983, Aston Manor will be celebrating its 30th birthday in 2013.