The dairy processor said expanding its Donnington Wood facility, in Shropshire, would increase production of yogurt from 350M pots a year to 700M. Telford & Wrekin Council confirmed it had received the application from Müller UK on Thursday (July 13).
Müller’s application statement, submitted to the council last month, said: “Müller have an approved budget of over £40M. This will see the installation of: a new site automated cleaning system, new process equipment, three new filling lines including all associated downstream packaging, a new product cooling system and an automated high bay warehouse.
‘Approved budget of over £40M’
“The investment will create a number of new roles in the plant. The nature of private [own] label dictates that the site has to invest in a level of automation to keep a competitive operating cost model.”
Should the application be approved, Müller will recruit for roles in engineering, laboratory, site services, production operatives, and store operatives. The number of workers at the site would increase from 333 to 385.
The size of the Müller site would double from 4.2ha to 8.46ha, the application stated. The extension would be attached to the rear of its existing building, and into the undeveloped section of its site.
‘Long-term commitments’
The application specified: “The investment by Müller into the Telford site shows that we have long-term commitments towards our production site in Telford, which can only be positive for employment, manufacturing and business in the area.”
Anybody wanting to comment on this application should write to Telford & Wrekin Council by August 10, the council said.
Meanwhile, in January Müller stopped operations at its north east London facility, with a net loss of 120 jobs. More than 300 jobs were axed at the site, but it created 180 new jobs in wider restructuring plans.
Müller extension plans
- Double site size to 8.46ha
- 52 jobs to be created
- Double production capacity to 700M yogurt pots