growing company faerch plast&39s durham city factorya food industry container maker says it remains on course to create 150 northeast jobs after benefiting from stronger demand for britishmade products.faerch plast, in durham city, is fitting equipment to double capacity and plans to extend its existing workforce by half this year.the company is one of europe&rsquos leading food packaging companies, with its dragonville industrial estate site employing in excess of 60 people.its factory makes ready meal trays and packaging for cold foods, bakery, dairy, and fruit and vegetable snacks, with many seen on the shelves of supermarkets and major retailers.last year, the northern echo reported how the company was fitting an extrusion line and thermoformers at the plant to make and cut its plastic packaging.bosses anticipate the equipment will be in place by the middle of the year, with about 30 staff expected to be recruited for production line duties, which will help the firm steadily move towards its 150job target.jason gale, faerch&rsquos uk sales director and acting managing director, told the northern echo &ldquowe have expanded faster than we thought and expect our workforce to grow by 50 per cent in 2015.&ldquowe have put a lot of money into this site and have also received great support from the council.&ldquothe major factor in the decision to move to durham was that we would be closer to our customers, because we don&rsquot have that stretch of water between us.&ldquowe are always taking staff on are continuing to invest in durham, which is good for the business and good for the local economy too.&rdquofaerch was founded in 1969, and the danish company employs about 500 staff across factories in denmark, czech republic and durham city.mr gale said its presence in the uk was delivering wider benefits.he added &ldquowe are not a uk company, but we have a uk site and that ticks a lot of boxes.&ldquocustomers say they like to buy british, and we need to be in the uk to support the core of the business.&rdquothe company&rsquos plant is also being extended by 2000m² to increase its stockholding capacity, with 30,000m² of land adjacent to the factory acquired for further expansion.faerch moved into its durham city site in 2012 when it converted the former veriplast site, known locally as mono containers.that closure meant the loss of 67 jobs, but some veriplast staff were hired when faerch started production.the packaging firm&rsquos roots can be traced by to 1869, when young entrepreneur rasmus faerch founded a tobacco company.however, in 1969, the family withdrew from the tobacco industry, but jurgen faerch, the chairman of its board of directors, bought four machines for making plastic packaging from a disused factory to start faerch plast. 
