diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8f05171de..0a4c5970f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@
 
 ##### Bug Fixes
 
+* Only `require 'digest'` once instead of per call to `uuid_for_path`  
+  [Eric Amorde](https://github.com/amorde)
+  [#580](https://github.com/CocoaPods/Xcodeproj/pull/580)
+
 * Xcode 10 support for input file list and output file list  
   [Dimitris Koutsogiorgas](https://github.com/dnkoutso)
   [#7835](https://github.com/CocoaPods/CocoaPods/issues/7835)
diff --git a/lib/xcodeproj/project/uuid_generator.rb b/lib/xcodeproj/project/uuid_generator.rb
index 8fe351ca1..3d7a968eb 100644
--- a/lib/xcodeproj/project/uuid_generator.rb
+++ b/lib/xcodeproj/project/uuid_generator.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 module Xcodeproj
   class Project
     class UUIDGenerator
+      require 'digest'
+
       def initialize(project)
         @project = project
         @new_objects_by_uuid = {}
@@ -76,7 +78,6 @@ def switch_uuids(objects)
       end
 
       def uuid_for_path(path)
-        require 'digest'
         Digest::MD5.hexdigest(path).upcase
       end