Paint manufacturer makes investment in Yorkshire site

CROWN Paints has invested more than £1m in a new high-speed manufacturing system.

The system, based at Crown’s manufacturing site in Hull, is designed to speed up the filling of paint containers by as much as 75% and will half the amount of water needed to clean paint delivery pipework.

It will also reduce the usage of both electrical power and compressed air by 25% as part of Crown’s bid to introduce major sustainability improvements across the business.

Joe Devitt, managing director at Crown Paints, said: “As a leader in the UK decorative coatings market, it’s essential that we seek to continuously improve our manufacturing and operational efficiencies.

“To meet this challenge, the company established a clear manufacturing strategy and the implementation of this new system at our Hull site is a crucial element of that.

“It’s a major investment which will pay huge long-term dividends by helping us to streamline production.”

The new high-speed line was delivered to the Hull site in November and has recently completed its first batch of paint. Complex installation work at the factory, also the site of a major new distribution centre since 2012, took almost 12 months to complete. It involved the installation of new pumps, filters and more than 60 metres of pipework carried out by the Hull engineering team under site engineering manager Steve Collins.

Crown has manufactured paints in the city for more than 200 years and half of Crown Paints’ products are manufactured at the Hull site, which employs 180 people.

Crown Paints is owned by Danish decorative and protective coatings company Hempel. More than 1,250 employees work for Crown Paints, which is based in Darwen in Lancashire, with manufacturing sites in both Darwen and Hull.