Press release -

Record-breaking investments in Danish Crown

Danish Crown will increase its investment budget by 25 per cent and will in the coming year invest around 2 billion kroner. The investment will focus primarily on automation to further improve working conditions and to future-proof production.

It is a fascinating sight when, with extreme precision, a fully automatic robot system sorts out a jumble of white cardboard boxes of pork onto different pallets. Just as importantly, the robots spare thousands of lifts for the employees in the packing centers, which, despite important mechanical aids already in place, remain a recognized physical burden.

In the coming year, the palletizing area at Danish Crown’s abattoir in Horsens will be expanded and upgraded with an investment in a new multi-million kroner robot setup.

- It is crucial for us to keep investing decisively in our production facilities through continued automation. This is the way to enhance both the working environment and our competitiveness – which in turn is the way to secure jobs. So even though we invest a huge amount, it makes sense in every possible way, says Jais Valeur, Group CEO of Danish Crown.

Another major investment is planned in Germany, where the capacity for producing ham for pizzas at the factory in Dinklage is to be increased. In recent years, Danish Crown has captured market share in the European pizza toppings market, most notably in the pepperoni category, and now the capacity and range will be expanded.

- Toppings is one of the markets in growth in Danish Crown Foods, where Danish Crown Toppings in Thorning produces large volumes of pepperoni for the pizza industry every year. Now we are expanding our repertoire with new lines in Dinklage, where we can make ready-cooked ham products in several formats, and in turn, align us more closely with our customers. With the new production facilities, we will increase our market share in the ham segment of the toppings market through Danish Crown Toppings' sales channels with an almost fully automated and very modern setup, says CEO Kasper Lenbroch from Danish Crown Foods.

Danish Crown's total investment budget will increase from DKK 1.6 billion last year to around DKK 2 billion in the coming year. Investments are planned across the Group's business areas. Danish Crown Pork accounts for the largest share of revenue and, not surprisingly, the largest investment plans.

In addition to the investment in the expansion of the palletizing operation in Horsens, there will also be major investments in the abattoirs in Blans and Ringsted in the coming year. In Blans, changing and office facilities are to be expanded and modernized, and the abattoir will see new equipment in the cutting department, while in Ringsted, investment will establish a facility to produce a special minced product for the Japanese market.

- In Blans, we have continuously expanded our staffing over the past five years, and we need to update the changing rooms. In Ringsted, we will invest in a new setup that will produce exclusively for Japanese customers, which will create 30-40 new jobs, because in addition to the necessary manpower to operate the facilities, we also need more people in the deboning department to secure enough raw materials for production, explains Søren F. Eriksen, CEO of Danish Crown Pork.

In addition to the larger projects, plans include multi-million kroner investments in projects to further improve working conditions and to drive reductions in the Group's climate footprint and environmental impact.

- We will inject funds to reduce our consumption of water and energy. In the quest to secure our position as the world's most sustainable food producer in our industry, this will be a direction consistently pursued in the coming years for us, says Jais Valeur.

Danish Crown's goal is to halve the group's climate footprint by 2030 and the vision is to be climate neutral by 2050.

Topics

  • Groceries, Food engineering

At Danish Crown we focus on food in all parts of the value chain. Food is what we produce and food is what we sell to customers and consumers across the world.

Contacts

Jens Hansen

Press contact Head of Press +458919 1431