The Nestlé food group has decided to focus on the competitiveness of its Gerona plant in the medium and long term. This will result in an investment of 100 million euros over the next three years, which will mainly be used to increase the manufacture of single-dose capsules and boost the production and filling processes for instant coffee using Spray-Drying technology.

The increase in production capacity brought about by this announcement is good news for the factory's employees as it will safeguard their jobs. It has even been announced that there may be new hires in the coming years, despite the fact that the decaffeinated coffee production area will be closed as part of the modernisation process. Currently, the plant directly employs 870 staff members.

State-of-the-art technology
Part of the planned investment will be used to install state-of-the-art technology which, combined with automation and digital technology, will help to improve the sustainability and logistics systems for these facilities.

The Catalan plant is one of the group's largest coffee factories. Built in 1968, it serves the Iberian market and also exports large volumes to Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. It has as a result been subject to major investment in recent years, which has expanded its production volumes in all categories.

Global benchmark
The investment that the Swiss group has made in recent times has helped to consolidate the importance of this plant within the group’s production structure. In fact, it is now considered a global benchmark for the production of instant coffee and beverages in single-dose capsules.

The Director of the factory, Jordi Jaén, commented on the multinational's new plans, “We are very proud to attract this investment for the Gerona factory, in recognition of the team’s professional qualifications and skills. This also represents a step forward in the process of consolidating the factory as a benchmark plant for the group.”

^{Photo: Nestlé}