On Friday 27th March Dawn Meats celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Cross Hands site in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The state of the art retail and foodservice packing facility officially opened its doors in March 2005 and produces a range of premium beef, pork and lamb products as well as added value and fully cooked convenience red meat and poultry products for retail and food service customers.
Following significant investment over the last ten years in Cross Hands, over 500 staff are now employed on the site that has a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes per week. The facility features the latest technology in traceability, robotics, packaging, labelling and slicing, allowing for the processing of a wide range of products in a variety of packaging formats.
Dawn Meats Cross Hands has established a reputation as a centre for product innovation over the last decade. In 2014 the site won 10 separate independent awards for such innovation. Separately, in keeping with the strong Group-wide focus on sustainability, just last year, Cross Hands delivered a 65% reduction in water consumption and a 50% reduction in energy consumption on site.
To mark the 10th anniversary, Cross Hands hosted a lunch for staff, featuring some of Dawn Meats’ multi-award winning products, including the Product of the Year 2014 – Smoky Barbecue Pulled Pork. Commenting, Charlotte Sutton of Dawn Meats said “Today we are celebrating with the staff who, over the last decade, have built Cross Hands into a world-class facility, with a keen eye for innovation and operational excellence. I would like to thank our Cross Hands team for their commitment and support over the last 10 years. This has been a site of growth and innovation since 2005, and we are in the process of investing further in the site to meet the evolving demands of the modern consumer and secure volume, growth and employment for the future. We look forward to another 10 years of business growth in Wales.”