Unilever tests nano factory: ‘This trial is assessing a de-centralised production model’ Unilever is trialling its first ‘nano factory’, which operates within a 40 foot sea container to deliver flexible production lines that can be moved all over the world. “This trial is assessing a de-centralised production model,” one of the engineers behind the innovation tells FoodNavigator. Unilever operates more than 300 factories across 69 countries. These large-scale facilities are designed to manufacture products in large quantities, at high speed. But what happens when the company needs to produce smaller volumes, perhaps to test a market before a full-scale launch? Often, it isn’t commercially viable to use a mass production line as switchover is a time-consuming process.