Barilla investing in Italy to develop Europe's largest pasta sauces plant near Parma
16 February 2017
Barilla renews its strong tie to the area around Parma, in Italy’s Food Valley, investing in the expansion of the pasta sauces plant in Rubbiano, in the province of Parma, inaugurated in October 2012. All this happens on a special anniversary: the 140 years of Barilla, the company that started as a small shop in the center of Parma to become the world’s leader for pasta and sauces in continental Europe.
Thanks to this expansion, the new plant will become the largest and most efficient production plant of pasta sauces in Europe, and one of the most sustainable in the world. The expansion project, that will be completed within 2018, will require investments in excess of 50 M€ and an increase in permanent staff of about 60 employees when in full production. Today, Barilla is Italy’s market leader in value in the pasta sauce industry, it ranks second in Germany and France, and third worldwide.
Only 5 years after the inauguration of the sauce plant in 2012, which required an initial investment of 40 M€, the response of consumers has been enthusiastic and sales volumes of sauces have increased by more than 45%. Today 75% of the plant output is intended for export, especially to Europe.
This success is the result of the extraordinary quality of raw materials, the key ones (tomato and basil) being of Italian origin, the deep integration between local farmers, and a unique and proprietary production technology.
The production process features the highest food and people safety standards, focus on environmental impact through the reduction of energy and water consumption, as well as carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, for three years the Guarda tu stesso digital platform has been offering People a virtual visit to the production site to show them the care and attention dedicated to each production step, in a totally transparent way.
Today the plant produces a range of tomato-based sauces, Pesto and Pestati. The project will extend the production also to all recipes containing meat.
“It will be a totally integrated factory, designed in-house and fully consistent with the “Good for You, Good for the Planet” business strategy.” – declared Carlo Carteri, Head of Pasta and Sauce Production Plants in Europe – “It will feature innovative technology with robotized and digitalized equipment in line with Industry 4.0 logics, capable of further boosting the levels of product quality and safety by combining efficiency and flexibility with a sophisticated traceability system”.
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