Eskort expands with factory extension
Small-town investment in Heidelberg drives high-tech efficiencies at South African pork manufacturer.
Pork manufacturer Eskort has expanded its Gauteng production capacity by 50% with a factory extension officially launched on February 13.
The 10 000m² development in Heidelberg – where the company has produced pork products for 70 years – will allow Eskort to increase production to meet retail needs.
The enlarged factory is equipped with the largest continuous box freezer in Africa, capable of freezing 120 000kg of products to minus 18°C every 24 hours.
Boxes move on a conveyor belt through the freezing chamber where the air is kept at minus 41°C.
Chilled and frozen warehouses in Heidelberg now have multi-level picking mezzanine floor systems, the first of their kind in the food industry in South Africa.
These systems maximise vertical space by including mezzanine floors that create additional levels for storage and picking and allow Eskort to handle a high volume of orders quickly and efficiently.
Arnold Prinsloo, Eskort chief executive officer for the past 17 years, said that the core objective of the factory extension is to create efficiencies.
The opening of the factory extension marks the next phase of growth for a company started in the small KwaZulu-Natal Midlands town of Estcourt in 1917.
Prinsloo and Eskort board chairperson Gerald Braak hosted guests at the three launches of the Heidelberg factory extension on February 13, 14 and 15.
