Finance for Automation: Gourmet Classic Ltd

Background

Gourmet Classic Ltd is the UK's leading supplier of cooking wines, handling around 4 million litres eachyear from its facility in Hampshire. Established in 1998, the business imports wine from Italy and Spain before processing and distributing products to food wholesalers across the UK.

Gourmet Classic are expanding their product range into vinegars and wine vinegars in 2 litre PET and 5 litre jerry cans and expectingto put another 2-3 million litres through the same plant.

With a strong reputation in the industry and growing demands, they wanted to further increase efficiency and make better use of its workforce without compromising output. That’s when they got in touch with REECO Automation to find a robotic palletising solution capable of handling their production requirements.

Challenge

As production volumes increased, the palletising process was becoming increasingly labour intensive. Two full-time employees were dedicated to manually packing pallets, creating ongoing costs and limiting the team's ability to focus on higher-value tasks elsewhere in the business.

The team saw a chance to make things easier by bringing in a robotic palletising system. It was a clear long-term investment, but they needed a finance option that let them move ahead without using up working capital.

“The new palletiser has already made a real difference to our operation. REECO Automation helped us find the right solution to increase efficiency, while Bluestone structured the funding in a way that allowed us tomove forward quickly without putting pressure on cashflow."
Graham Humes, Chief Financial Officer, Gourmet Classic Ltd

Solution

Bluestone Business Finance arranged a £135,000 finance lease to fund a new RB2000 Robot Palletiser supplied by REECO Automation, allowing Gourmet Classic to introduce automation without a large upfront cost.

This reduced staffing requirements and generated estimated savings of £30,000 per year. By spreading the cost over three years, they were able to invest in the equipment needed while keeping cash available for the day-to-day running of the business.

"It was great to work with Gourmet Classic and REECO on this project. We helped put the funding in place so Gourmet Classic could start benefiting from the efficiency savings straight away. Any project involving wine is always an interesting one, especially when it involves food.”
Paul Sperry, Account Manager, Bluestone Business Finance

*The amount a business can borrow will depend on the unique circumstances of the business and eligibility. Bluestone is committed to ensuring that our clients make informed financial decisions based on their requirements and always recommend that our clients seek independent financial advice from an authorised source before committing to any financial agreements.

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