Tunnock's Factory Trip

Carl has written a very detailed report of the S6 class trip to Tunnock's on October 7th, 2011:

Our S6 trip to Tunnock’s factory in Uddingston was a highly enjoyable experience.  We were given the chance to see the actual manufacturing processes of the Tunnock products including its Caramel Wafers, Logs, Tea Cakes and Snow Balls.  We were all able to look the part as a Tunnock employee and were given lab coats and hair nets to wear.  On our way round the factory we were able to learn about the company’s biscuit productions which undergo weight control, texture and visual quality checks.  It was interesting to find out that 40% of Tunnock's products are exported abroad to Europe and the Far East.  Our tour guide was very pleasant and engaging; however it was sometimes difficult to hear him due to noise from the factory machines.  I was also surprised to receive a Tunnock “goodie bag” which contained some of their produce, quickly polished off over the weekend- yumm!!   The trip was extremely worthwhile from a point of view that we learned a lot relating to the Higher Business Management course and that we were stuffed with biscuits by the end of our visit!

·         Had a full tour round the factory in our white lab coats, hair nets & ear plugs! J

·         Observed the different manufacturing processes of the Tunnock products (including Caramel Wafers, Caramel Logs, Tea Cakes and Snow Balls)

·         Asked various questions to our tour guide in the meeting room

·         Still operate a local shop round the corner from the factory in Uddingston which produce meat pies and bakery goods.

·         Still use the original biscuit packaging, to obtain their tradition and identity. Unlike other competitors, they have kept their biscuit sizes the same.  

·         All the products which they manufacture on a day to day basis have already been ordered and bought by supermarkets and cash and carry outlets. This means that the Tunnock profits will have no overall sale losses.

·         They also make sure that the quality of their products is consistent. (For instance: Before the Caramel wafers are wrapped and boxed, they are first of all are checked by a laser sensor to make sure they are the right size in order to fit in the packaging. If they’re not then the machinery shoots the odd wafers into a waste bin).

·         They manufacture all their goods from the Uddingston factory and don’t have any other factories in Scotland or abroad.

·         Tunnock products are shipped abroad to Europe and the Far East. The Far East is actually their biggest market abroad because the majority of the country is wealthy. As a result they had to adapt the packaging to add sections in Arabic and they were also asked to change the size of the Caramel Logs to include a bigger JUMBO size in order to satisfy the popular country demand. It is also estimated that 40% of the Tunnock product range is exported abroad!

·         Any excess wafers are also used as wafer dust. This is used on the Snow ball conveyer belt to avoid the mallow from sticking to the surface. Some wafer bits are also sold to companies who extract the sugar from them. This means that the company doesn’t waste any extra produce.

·         The Tea Cakes are actually biscuits but are officially called cakes because they don’t have any VAT placed upon them.

·         When the biscuit bases for the tea cakes are produced they are actually crunchy. In the final product they are soft because the moister from the mallow and the chocolate softens the base.