Unilever UK & IrelandChange location
Investment in strategic projects strengthens Unilever’s manufacturing and logistics capabilities for UK and European operations:
The investment includes high-tech manufacturing upgrades in the site’s Home Care factory, which makes the Persil, Surf and Comfort laundry brands, and a new advanced automated distribution centre, directly connected to Port Sunlight’s three factories. Together, these investments will support the next generation of Persil laundry capsules and strengthen Unilever’s UK supply chain, from manufacturing through to delivery to retail customers.
Marc Woodward, Head of Unilever UK, said: “This is a landmark moment for Port Sunlight. The completion of investments in Home Care manufacturing and the opening of a new flagship distribution centre will support the growth of our business and reinforce Port Sunlight’s role as a strategic hub for our UK and European operations.”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Our region has a proud industrial heritage, and Unilever has been part of that story for generations – supporting thousands of jobs and helping to put the Liverpool City Region on the map as a centre for manufacturing and innovation.
“This investment is a strong vote of confidence in our region as a place where global businesses can grow, innovate and create opportunity. It will help support high-quality jobs, apprenticeships and skills for local people, while strengthening our position as a leader in advanced manufacturing and R&D.
“Just as importantly, this new facility shows how economic growth and sustainability can go hand in hand. By cutting hundreds of lorry journeys from our roads each week, Unilever is supporting our target to reach net zero by 2035, improve air quality for local people, and support ambitions for a cleaner, greener city region.”
New investment in Port Sunlight’s laundry capsule factory will increase laundry capsule production three‑fold — from 660 per minute to around 2,000 — while enabling the manufacture of smaller, more complex capsule formats. This supports the launch of Persil’s new advanced four-chamber capsules which feature new powerful cleaning technologies, developed at Unilever’s R&D labs in Port Sunlight.
The new distribution centre connects directly to the factories on site and will reduce the requirement for lorries to move goods between the factories and distribution centres in other locations, delivering sustainability and safety benefits. Spanning 10,000 m2, it is powered by 2,000m of automated conveyors and eight giant (30m high) stacking cranes, handling up to 17,000 pallets, equating to 13,600 tonnes of product, each week.
By taking hundreds of lorries off the road each week, it will deliver a significant estimated 27% reduction in primary logistics – the lorries that transport Unilever products from factory to warehouse - saving an associated 827 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. It is powered by 100% renewable energy, with solar panels, heat pumps and solar reflectance painting.
Lee Mawson, Head of Customer Operations, Unilever UK and Ireland said; “This is a big step forward for us in our UK and European supply chain. The distribution centre will boost capacity, efficiency and service levels for our retail customers, improving product availability and enabling direct dispatch to retailers in the UK and a number of European markets.”
Madeleine McLeod, Factory Director for Port Sunlight Home Care, said: “The investment completion we are announcing today makes us future-fit, boosting our capacity and efficiency as we roll out our latest home care innovations.
“Port Sunlight represents Unilever’s proud manufacturing heritage in the North-West — a heritage we are taking forward with our talented workforce, supported by the latest in high-tech automation and cutting-edge technology.”
Port Sunlight is Unilever’s historic home, founded in 1888 by William Lever as both a soap factory and a model village for workers. Today, it remains a strategically important hub, home to advanced manufacturing and R&D, with around 2,000 employees working across both parts of the site.
At Port Sunlight we have three factories – two are for our Home Care business and make our laundry brands Persil, Surf and Comfort, among other European brands – and one is for our Personal Care and Beauty & Wellbeing business and makes brands including TRESémme, Radox, Simple and Lynx shower gel.
Port Sunlight is also home to Unilever R&D, including our product innovation lab and an Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC).
Over recent years we have made big investments in manufacturing and in R&D across Port Sunlight. In 2025 we announced the investment of £80 million to build a new state-of-the-art fragrance facility.
A distribution centre is a large, smart warehouse. It is the place where product arrives on pallets and is stored, sorted and dispatched, directly to retail customers, or to other distribution centres. In Port Sunlight, the new distribution centre will be connected to our three factories by 2,000 metres of automated conveyors, giving us end-to-end supply chain on site.
The distribution centre will be operated by around 40 employees who have been re-trained to manage and operate it.
Find out more about the Port Sunlight distribution centre in our explainer video below:
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