HERENTALS, BELGIUM — Mondelez International plans to invest €30 million ($32.72 million) in its baking facility in Herentals, Belgium. The planned investment is expected to transform the plant into “a more modern, flexible and competitive” facility, while increasing production capacity to better serve the company’s growing presence in the European biscuit market, Mondelez said.

“This significant investment will continue the modernizing of the production installations in our Herentals facility and create a highly efficient and robust supply infrastructure for our iconic biscuits such as Prince, Tuc and PiM’s,” said Bart De Geest, plant director at Mondelez Herentals. “In combination with the development of our people expertise, this operation will enable the plant to develop its competitiveness and prepares the ground for future growth of the plant.”

Mondelez said the investment will focus on the plant’s core production lines. Specifically, the company plans to install a production line for TUC crackers (in addition to the two existing cracker lines). The new line will create an additional 6,500 tonnes of capacity for TUC, available to support up to 40% future growth, Mondelez said.

Mondelez also plans to add a production hall for Prince biscuits. The hall will be installed and become operational in early 2024, Mondelez said, and will produce chocolate cream filling with the latest technology for Prince biscuits.

“This significant improvement in production equipment fits into the plant’s focus on the development of its major ‘core’ lines Prince and TUC,” the company noted.

Alongside these investments, the facility’s PiM’s line will be upgraded with a new cake baking unit and an upgrade of the chocolate process, Mondelez said. The PiM’s oven will be one of the first ones within the company’s supply chain network in Europe to make the transition from gas to electrical energy, supporting the company’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions in its manufacturing processes, Mondelez said.

For Bastogne, packaging equipment will be installed to create sales opportunities. The plant also will implement new IT systems for the management of the warehouse and production system to further secure and improve production efficiency, Mondelez said.

“With our combined expertise in biscuits and chocolate manufacturing, Herentals is one of the largest production facilities of Mondelez International in Europe,” Mr. De Geest said. “Thanks to this commitment in, we will be able to respond to the growing market demand and consolidate the plants importance within the group.”