Tomas Pietrangeli, Managing Director of Arla Foods UK, met with Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this week for a tour of the cooperative’s Aylesbury site, the world’s largest fresh milk processing plant.
The Automated Guidance Vehicles (AGV) at Arla’s state of the art fresh milk processing facility in Aylesbury have taken a leading role on The Financial Times website (FT.com) as part of ‘Robot Week’, a week dedicated to articles, videos and multimedia content on the rise of robotics in the workplace and home environment.
The Aylesbury site for the farmer-owned dairy company, Arla Foods UK, was crowned winner of the Innovation Award at the 2015 Best Factory Awards (BFA) held in London.
In The Grocer’s annual supplement ‘The Dairymen’ published last week, our own Peter Giørtz-Carlsen, Executive Vice President of Arla Foods UK, talked about his ambitions for the dairy cooperative. Peter believes that Arla’s strong market position, particularly in liquid milk and cheese, means it is well positioned to make the jump to ‘super brand’.
Today, the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, officially opened Arla’s £150 million fresh milk processing facility located in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, with a capacity to produce 1.5 million bottles a day.
Aylesbury dairy has been chosen as one of the winners of an Aylesbury Vale District Council design award.
The first milk for its retail customers has today rolled off the filling lines as Arla Foods puts the finishing touches to its new Aylesbury dairy in Buckinghamshire.
The Secretary of State has confirmed that he will not call-in the £150 million Arla dairy proposal, giving Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) the green light to grant detailed planning permission for the dairy and outline planning permission for the ancillary and supporting business park uses on the site near to Aston Clinton, Aylesbury.
Arla Foods has submitted a detailed planning application to Aylesbury Vale District Council for a £150 million investment to deliver the world’s first zero carbon fresh milk dairy, near to Aston Clinton, Aylesbury.
It already boasts the lightest polybottle portfolio in the industry, but Arla has sets its sights on reducing the weight of its polybottles by a further 15-20 per cent.
Arla Foods is a global dairy company and co-operative owned by 10,300 dairy farmers with around circa 2,500 of whom are British.
Dating back to 1881, Arla’s purpose is to secure the highest value for its farmers’ milk, while creating opportunities for their growth. With production facilities in 11 countries and sales offices in a further 30, Arla is the world’s fifth largest dairy company and largest supplier of organic dairy products. Arla has a total of more than 18,000 colleagues and its products are sold under the well-known brands Arla®, Lurpak® and Castello® in more than 100 countries.
Arla Foods UK is the largest dairy company in the country and is home to leading dairy brands Anchor®, Cravendale, and Lactofree® with a turnover of €2.2 billion. As well as being a leading supplier of fresh milk, number one in butter, spreads and cream, Arla is the UK’s largest cheese manufacturer. It has also built the world’s largest fresh milk facility located at Aylesbury and has plans for it to be the first zero carbon site of its kind. The UK business has a team of approximately 3,500 colleagues located at its dairies, distribution centres and head office.
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