The Real Petfood Company – which is based at Kinmel Park in Bodelwyddan – has appointed Ceri Twist as Technical Services Manager.  She joins from Arla Foods where she was for seven years, latterly as Site Grader & Stock Controller.  In her new role she will play a key role in general product innovation including developing more export products and increasing the range of wet dog food.

At Arla Foods her responsibilities included daily analysis of production records to assess the length of storage for different cheese products, the development of a new product benchmarking system and improving the integration of the site into the local community.

The firm has also appointed Ross Dilworth – previously a production worker at the business – as an electrical & software engineering apprentice.  He joins the maintenance team and after four years will be a fully qualified, multi-skilled engineer.  In addition, the business is actively looking for a second apprentice and has enlisted further education colleges Coleg Menai and Coleg Cambria to help with recruitment.

Chris Akroyd, the firm’s engineering manager said: “Our in-house maintenance team has now grown to the size that we can offer apprentices a comprehensive and valuable training programme.  It is well-known that qualified engineers in the manufacturing sector are in short supply and, once qualified they can look forward to excellent career opportunities and a salary package of some £40,000pa.”

The number of employees at the Real Petfood Company has more than doubled from 30 to 65 since the firm moved to its current site some two years ago.  The business makes premium quality pet food for brands such as Wagg and Harringtons as well as a wide range of own label products for major retailers.