DIGITALISATION
A digital U
K-based Friars started making its own brand of premium chocolates by hand in 2020, after nearly 100 years of being a confectionery retailer. The success of this
product range meant that the company had to quickly accelerate its production to meet increasing demand and to do this, the third- generation family business made the decision to automate the labour-intensive elements of its production line. Doing so enabled Friars to increase its output from 30kg per day to 250kg – an increase of 733%. It also gave the
28 Kennedy’s Confection October 2024
ambition for growth
A UK-based chocolate producer has experienced game changing productivity increases thanks to the automation of its manufacturing processes.
company scope to scale up production. Michael Webster, Managing Director at
Friars, takes up the story: “Our ambition is to become one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of quality chocolates, but in order to achieve this we needed to look to technology to enable us to scale up our operation while continuing to produce the highest quality chocolates possible.” To help achieve this goal the team at Friars approached Made Smarter, an organisation created by the UK Government, to provide help and support to manufacturers wishing to increase adoption of digital tools and innovation.
“Having support and advice from Made Smarter helped to accelerate and derisk our investment in process automation technology, which took the brakes off our growth plans,” said Michael.
The challenge
Friars started life as a café and catering business in 1927 before fully moving into retail in the 1970s with two shops in Keswick and Ambleside selling confectionery and giftware. Over the last 30 years it has built a reputation as a chocolatier, sourcing a huge variety of premium products from the UK
KennedysConfection.com
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