South Yorkshire Times, June 18th, 1955
Factory Growing
Ambitious Extensions by Conisbrough Crisp Makers
Extensions costing thousands of pounds are being carried out at the X.L potato crisp factory in Conisbrough, second largest manufactures of crisps in the country.
The factory opened at Conisbrough in 1947 and the business has had a meteoric rise. The firm took over some old buildings in Sheffield Road and after a certain amount of renovation installed the complicated machinery used in the production of crisps. With in the business extending as far North as Sunderland and as far South as Bristol and from coast to coast, the original buildings soon became overcrowded.
A brook running across the building land has provided the contractors with one of their major problems and it has been necessary to culvert it with five foot concrete sewer pipes. This was done about 18 months ago and the new building, which will be used chiefly for storage purposes, came into use about three weeks ago.
Fourteen pans are in use at the moment for frying crisps and space has been left in the new building to accommodate further pans, if necessary.
The extension to the factory will not at the moment create a demand for new labour the secretary, Mr. C. M. Wright, told a ‘South Yorkshire Times’ reporter this week. He explained that their labour force usually rises to about 110 in the summer but falls to about 60 during the winter. ‘If we put new pans in next year we will want more labour, but not in the immediate future apart from our ordinary seasonal commitments,’ said Mr. Wright.
The firm manufactures fifteen million bags of crisps a year, uses 40 bags of potatoes a week, and 1,200 gallons of vegetables oil for cooking.
Our representative new the many interesting processes in the production of crisps and his query: ‘Who puts the salt in’ was answered by a row of girls – salt bobbers – who put the salt into the bags as they move along a chute at the rate of over 30 bags a minute