DRINKS giant Diageo expects to hit one million cases per week this month at its new £86 million Leven bottling hall, which was officially opened yesterday.

And the firm said the operation is important to ensuring bottling in Scotland stays competitive

The Fife operation was expanded as part of the controversial closure of the long-established Johnnie Walker bottling plant at Kilmarnock.

Richard Bedford, operations director for Diageo Scotland, told The Herald: "I think what we have created here is very important for the future.

"We have a highly efficient bottling plant that will enable us to be competitive in an increasingly competitive global market place. We have to be competitive or production will find its way to markets elsewhere."

Non-whisky lines such as Smirnoff vodka and Gordon's gin comprise 68% of what is bottled at Leven, from spirit distilled at Cameron Bridge grain distillery.

Nevertheless, almost six million cases of whisky is expected to be bottled each year, including brands such as Johnnie Walker, Old Parr and Cardhu.

The company has been gradually bringing its six lines into service since 2011 and now has as many as five of them running 24 hours a day as it caters for the festive demand.

So far more than 5.2 million cases have been packaged at the plant, including 839,000 in the last week of October alone.

It expects to hit one million cases a week later this month with the first week of December expected to be the busiest ever at 1.1 million cases comprising of six or 12 bottles.

Around 85% of its output is exported, being shipped from Grangemouth on to Rotterdam and from there around the world.

"There is no doubt the growth in demand for Scotch whisky, particularly in the high-growth markets of Asia, Latin American and Africa, is helping to drive our investment across Scotland and we are delighted that Fife continues to benefit from that," Mr Bedford said.

He said the plant has the flexibility to handle around 3000 different variants of drink and package size.

Lindsay Roy, MP for Glenrothes, said: "Where better to invest than on a Fife site where there has been an outstanding commitment from the entire workforce, over many years, to make quality count? It is clear that the new bottling hall will ensure that the company remains a world leader in its field."

Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes, added that Diageo's investment provided security for the workforce.

The new bottling facility is equivalent in size to three Murrayfield rugby pitches and is capable of bottling 675 bottles every minute.

There are currently 1250 people working at the site, of whom 900 are permanent.

The expansion created 400 additional permanent posts, of which 42 were filed by employees at the Kilmarnock Johnnie Walker plant.

Mr Bedford said that another 200 former employees at the historic plant took other posts within the company.

Some 700 posts were lost when the plant finally closed in March of this year.