Unilever in Port Sunlight is creating 150 new jobs

Sep 19 2012 by Alistair Houghton, Heswall News

UNILEVER is creating 150 jobs in Port Sunlight and moving hundreds of jobs there from Wales as it transforms the site into a “strategic hub of global significance”.

The company, which owns brands from Persil to Lynx, confirmed plans to build a new hi-tech factory for personal care products at the Wirral site, which will employ 150 people.

Meanwhile Unilever is closing its IT centre in Ewloe, near Chester, and moving 400 staff to Port Sunlight – its historic home.

Unilever announced in June that it was restructuring its UK operations and planned to extend the Port Sunlight site.

Last week the company confirmed it was to close the former Alberto Culver manufacturing site in Swansea, its distribution centre in Bridgend and a former Sara Lee personal care factory in Slough.

Some 100 IT jobs from Ewloe will be lost as the work will be moved to Bangalore, India.

But Unilever said 50 jobs would be created at a new distribution centre in Deeside, which will serve the new factory in Wirral.

Andy Stickland, works director for the North West at Unilever UK & Ireland, said: “Following an extensive review, we have announced the go ahead for major investment into Port Sunlight, resulting in new jobs and the creation of a strategic hub of global significance for Unilever.

“The new hub will bring together excellence in manufacturing and IT, alongside our global research and development lab and we’re very excited about seeing the site grow.”

Port Sunlight was founded in 1888 by William Hesketh Lever to house his Sunlight soap factory and a model village for workers.

The modern Unilever was founded in 1930 when Lever Brothers merged with Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. Today it has a total UK workforce of about 7,200.