'£18m investment and 100 jobs', bottle firm boss pledge

United Caps — which already manufactures in Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, Luxembourg and Ireland — will soon build its first UK plant at Dinnington.

The factory, focusing on tops for drinks and dairy cartons, will start production late next year, creating 20 jobs.

But chief executive Benoit Henckes said 80 more could be in the pipeline at the company’s chosen site on the Dinnington Business Park, where the plant has room to grow up to four times the size.

Mr Henckes, who met Rotherham Borough Council bosses and the Advertiser at Riverside House last Thursday to outline his plans, said Rotherham had been chosen as it ticked all the company’s boxes.

“We had three criteria in choosing a site,” he said. 

“One is skilled labour, which gives the region a big advantage, with its Advanced Manufacturing Park.

“Number two was access to main roads and the area where most food production is taking place, near Leeds.

“We need to be close to our customers, who are food manufacturers and packers.

“The third thing is the cost of land, which is is quite expensive in the UK. But in Rotherham we’ve found a good balance on three criteria.”

United Caps will employ 20 skilled workers, with a range of specialisms, when it begins production.

Its flexible production lines could be used to make any of the firm’s products, which include a pioneering metallic plastic created for an instant coffee brand.

“We will be hiring mainly skilled people — some specifically in plastics, but also in robotics and general and engineering,” said Mr Henckes.

“We will start by installing five or six production lines, planning to increase this number year on year with demand.

“As we approach ten production lines, we will look to buy another module (one of four sections) of the site. “There is potential for up to 100 jobs, eventually.”

He added: “Plastic is still very new as a material. We are still doing innovative things with it.

“When we opened our last production five years ago, people said what we did was not possible.

“We proved that it was — and this will continue into the future.”

Cllr Denise Lelliott, the borough council’s cabinet member for jobs and the local economy, said: “This is another example of how we’re focused on growing the economy.

“We have a really good business team and a fantastic planning department whose message is: ‘Come to Rotherham, it’s open for business’.”

She added: “We have worked closely with the Advanced Manufacturing Park for years and we’re working with the Sheffield City Region too.

“Then there is the higher education campus coming to Rotherham, which will focus on apprenticeships.

“This isn’t a sign of things to come, but something which is already happening.”

Damien Wilson, strategic director of regeneration, said: “We’re the only place in South Yorkshire in the top ten fastest growing UK economies.

“This is only one of several projects being delivered by our excellent team.

“We’ve got the private and public sector pulling in the same direction.”