Irish food company Greencore plans to strengthen its presence in the US with a new sandwich manufacturing facility in Rhode Island, with an investment of around £20m.

The 100,000ft2 facility will enable Greencore USA to extend its reach to New York, while catering to the existing markets in New England.

According to the company, the site will comply with the hygiene, efficiency and process capability standards as well as support its ongoing growth.

Greencore CEO Patrick Coveney said that the investment will significantly enhance the company's capability and capacity to serve the sandwich market in the North Eastern region of the US, and will also enable it to drive further growth with current customers.

"Delivering this project will represent an important milestone as we continue to build a strong, growing, profitable food to go business in the USA," Coveney added.

The facility, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2015, will have a workforce of 370.

The project will provide Greencore with material manufacturing process and distribution savings of £5m, and a non-cash impairment of £8m in 2014.

Greencore plans to close operations at its Newburyport and Brockton sites in Massachusetts.

The company said that the employees affected by the closures will be given an opportunity for transfer to the Quonset plant.