Shropshire Star

Müller creates 65 jobs in £50m Telford factory expansion

Dairy giant Müller has created 65 new jobs as part of a £50 million expansion at its Telford manufacturing facility.

Published
Employee at Müller's £50m Telford expansion

The investment of the site at Donnington Wood has seen it double in size, increasing the capacity at the factory to 500 million yogurt pots each year.

It will also be able to make products in formats including big pots, split pots and regular fruited yoghurts.

Müller, which also has sites in Market Drayton and Minsterley, said the project will help it to meet growing demand from consumers for branded and private label yogurts made with milk from British farms.

The expansion includes the installation of three new state-of-the-art production lines, the modernisation of three existing lines, the installation of an energy efficient cooling facility and a new automated high bay warehouse.

It also ensures that Müller has the manufacturing footprint to pursue potential further increases in production at the site of up to 700 million pots in future years, as the business continues to grow.

New automated high bay warehouse at Telford

Müller has major yogurt and chilled desserts manufacturing sites at Market Drayton and Minsterley and the company was recently named as the number one dairy brand in the UK according to Kantar’s 2019 UK Brand Footprint report.

The report also shows that Müller is the eight most chosen FMCG brand in the UK, picked 217 million times from shelves by consumers throughout 2018.

Within the Chilled Yogurt and Potted Dessert category, Müller makes the No 1 and No 2 brands, Müllerlight and Müller Corner.

Bergen Merey, managing director at Müller Yogurt & Desserts, said: “We are very proud of what we have achieved at Telford. This is a major step towards reducing the UK’s dependence on imported yogurt products, and it gives us a significant competitive advantage.

Aerial shot of £50m Telford expansion

“We have acted to enable us to increase our share of both the private label and branded yogurt category. We intend to leverage our greater capabilities to support the growth of our private label business whilst we continue to innovate and drive our core branded products like Müllerlight and Müller Corner.

“Yoghurt is at the heart of the dairy category, with consumers asking for a wide range of delicious branded and private label yogurts that are made with their needs in mind – offering everyday dairy goodness, indulgence, protein, lactose free, natural, fat free and reduced or zero added sugar.

“As a result of this investment, Müller customers will benefit from increased levels of innovation, choice and capabilities to make healthy, great tasting yoghurt products made in Britain with milk from British farms.”