Manchester Dairy make over
It has been a New Year knockdown, at Arla Foods' Manchester Dairy as the £10 million redevelopment programme, gains momentum.
The transformation of the site started last year and will continue into 2005 and it's a case of what goes up, must come down as the demolition team began knocking down the tanker bay at the beginning of the month
"It is to the credit of employees that there has been no significant disruption to the dairy's business during the first few months and that we have been able to maintain high standards of service and quality to our customers," said chief engineer Neil Gallagher, who is leading the project.
Among the people most affected are milk reception and process staff who have been working amidst continuous change and office staff who are shoehorned into existing space until the new block opens.
The aim is to develop a modern dairy that will compare favourably with competitors' sites as well as increasing capacity.
As part of the first stage, three new milk intake bays are now in use and work starts on the final three this month. The new milk reception area is at the centre of this phase, along with two 45,000-gallon raw milk silos, two 11,000-gallon finished milk tanks, a clean in place system and a new weighbridge.
Phase two will include the first stage of a new cold store, including an automated trolley handling and marshalling system with space for 7,500 trolleys.
A new office and amenities block will bring all site personnel into one area while the remaining phases of the development will see an expansion of the empty bottling handling area, a new car park and new dry goods store.
Arla Foods UK plc is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor. Processing approximately two billion litres of milk a year Arla continues to be one of the UK’s leading dairy companies and a supplier of fresh liquid milk and cream to the top seven retailers.
Over 2,500 daily deliveries are made directly to stores nationwide and Arla brands can be found across the dairy category. As well as the leader of the butter, spreads and margarine sector, and a major supplier of other added value products including flavoured milk and cheese, Arla continues to build working relationships with Arla Foods Milk Partnership, a unique group of dairy farmers, which supplies around 90 per cent of Arla's total milk requirements.
Behind this leading business is a team of circa 2,800 people across the UK located at our dairies, distribution centres and head office.