Premier finds perfection at Keiller's plant

Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher began a whistle-stop tour of Scotland yesterday with a visit to the Dundee factory of James Keiller and Son, the headquarters of major UK confectionery group Alma Holdings.

Mrs Thatcher, accompanied by Scottish Office ministers Mr Malcolm Rifkind and Mr Michael Forsyth, arrived amid tight security at the firm's Mains Loan plant shortly before 9 am, where she was met by Alma chairman and chief executive Mr Mario Maciocia, who has helped take Alma from its humble beginnings in Kirkcaldy to the brink of multi-national stardom.

As her entourage swept through the factory gates a group of around six anti-community charge demonstrators—displaying banners and chanting—was waiting to heckle Mrs Thatcher.

During a tour of the Keiller factory lasting roughly an hour Mrs Thatcher watched various production and packaging processes and met staff, including Mr Neville Coburn, the nephew of the man who created “Dolly Mixtures.”

Afterwards, unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening of Alma's Dundee HQ, the PM was full of praise for the firm, citing the “dynamism” of the management and strong Conservative policies as two main reasons for their unrivalled success.

“It is a tremendous example of Scottish enterprise,” she said. “I admire what the company has done. Their marketing is absolutely terrific.

“You not only need a good product but you need to have super marketing to get it to the customer.

“Perfection is their motto, perfection in production, per [end p1] fection in packaging, perfection in getting it to the customer.

“This is the most modern, up-to-date, efficient factory doing this type of work that I have ever seen.”

Mrs Thatcher added that she believed Alma's success had been made possible in part by the policies of the Tory Government “bringing new prosperity to Scotland.”

Alma—now the fourth largest sugar confectionery manufacturer in the UK—acquired the Dundee-based operations last October in a multi-million pound buy-out of the confectionery business of Barker and Dobson.

A huge investment programme in plant and machinery is currently under way at Keiller's, a move which will result in one of the most modern confectionery plants in the world.

Alma took the opportunity of the PM's visit to announce the launch of the first stage of an assault on the Northern European market with the acquisition of a new manufacturing outlet in Holland.

Alma have purchased the family-owned Arba Confectionery factory at Schiedam, in Rotterdam, for an undisclosed sum and plan to increase sales levels to close on £3 million by the end of the first operational year.

“Northern Europe is a vital segment in our overall marketing plan and we view the purchase of Arba as a bridgehead in establishing not only a sales and marketing division, but a manufacturing presence in the Northern European market,” said Mr Maciocia.

“We have already won a £600,000 contract from a German company for the new operation and the acquisition will significantly boost our existing sales profiles in other European countries.

“Our sales levels in Europe are growing dramatically, with the Scandinavian countries in particular showing great interest in our sweets.

“Therefore we are actively considering a number of joint venture opportunities across Northern Europe which will give Alma a secure footing in the marketplace well before the single European market opens in 1992.”

The production available from the Arba factory, whose name will be changed to Alma Holland Limited, will provide additional sales openings for the highly-successful Irish and American sales and marketing companies that Alma have established.

Alma began life in 1983 in an old swimming pool building in Kirkcaldy with a turnover of £1.2 million, expanding rapidly to the point that the group now has a turnover in excess of £65 million and employs over 1100 people at its plants in Dundee, Kirkcaldy and Stockport.

They produce a phenomenal range of confectionery and recently won the licence to produce the “Batman” range of sweets.

Other notable product lines include Skullcrushers, Munchy Maggots and Snotty Slurps.

“Children's tastes have changed,” said the PM.

“Now they like to shock their mothers by taking home things called Skullcrushers!”

History, however, does not record whether or not the PM has a sweet tooth.

Throughout her visit she never as much as touched any of the sweets on offer, although the accompanying Press corps, Government officials and police were obviously finding it hard to resist temptation.

“She didn't try anything,” said Anne Nutter, Alma's technical manager, who accompanied Mrs Thatcher on her tour.

“We'll give her a box of sweets home with her though.”

At the end of her visit, Mrs Thatcher was presented with a crystal decanter by Mr Maciocia.

“We shall celebrate later with a well-known Scottish bottle!” she replied.

After her short visit to Dundee, Mrs Thatcher left Tayside for Ayr, to visit the Volvo Trucks plant.

Last night she was principal guest of the National Farmers' Union of Scotland at a reception at Ingliston.

Following her tour of the Keiller factory she took the opportunity to issue her own condemnation of the behaviour by English football fans in Stockholm on Wednesday night.

“I am always horrified if there is any difficulty with football fans abroad. It really is a disgrace to Britain when fans behave like that,” she said.

“We notice that the Scottish fans were super at their match—there was no trouble with them.

“The Scots seem to have much more pride in the game than the English and we must analyse their success and try to emulate it.”

Mrs Thatcher added that she felt improvements to football in general, such as the introduction of all-seater stadiums, were more advanced north of the border.