Lubricants producer to open manufacturing facility

Specialty lubricants manufacturer, Vickers Oils, will open a purpose-built facility for the production of food grade lubricants and greases on 23 February.

The new site is two miles from the company’s main Airedale Mills factory in Hunslet, Leeds.

Vickers Oils says this is believed to be the only such large-scale facility in the UK. A spokesman for the business explained: “This significant investment is a clear statement of intent for Vickers Oils’ current and future customers in the food industry.

“Being self-contained, all raw materials and finished products on site will be food grade only, thereby significantly eliminating the risk of any cross-contamination with the type of non-food grade chemicals that would typically be present in abundance, were the site multi-purpose.

“While personnel will move between the two sites in Leeds, the manufacturing team will have dedicated clothing for the new site as another example of contamination avoidance.”

Paul Vann, managing director of Vickers Oils, said: “As is often said, ‘we are what we eat’ and consumers are increasingly concerned about the provenance, quality and safety of what goes in the shopping basket.

“That is the primary reason for building a dedicated manufacturing site.”

Beyond the manufacturing equipment and infrastructure, the development also includes a quality control laboratory and training suite.