The new world class facility, roughly the size of a football pitch, serves to boost Unilever’s existing R&D presence across the UK and the globe and features a state of the art pilot plant which allows scientists and engineers at Unilever to test new ideas on a factory scale.
The Centre is the latest in a line of recent investments in Unilever's Port Sunlight hub. In 2017 the Materials Innovation Factory, a partnership between the University of Liverpool, Unilever and HEFCE also opened its doors and has helped to provide cutting-edge facilities to support the product development of Unilever’s Home and Personal Care categories.
Cameron Jones, Unilever Port Sunlight Site Director, said: “I am delighted to announce the official opening of our Advanced Manufacturing Centre. The completion of our newest facility here in our historical home in Port Sunlight, coincides with our 130-year anniversary, where this week marks the construction of William Lever’s Sunlight Soap factory.
The new Centre highlights our continued commitment to creating new innovative products, further improving the quality of manufacturing and in addition, accelerating our ability to roll out even more winning products across the world.”
The Centre, which was also supported by investment from the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund, has been configured to allow close working with industrial and academic partners. It will test new and transformational technologies and will house replica equipment and conditions found in Unilever sites around the globe. This will allow the team of scientists and engineers to create consumer focused innovations and quickly scale them for Unilever’s global supply chain team, also based in Port Sunlight.