Fresh milk processing and distribution business Müller Wiseman Dairies has confirmed that it is to wind down its depot operation at Pensilva in Cornwall, UK.
The decision, prompted by a substantial reduction in milk supplied from the depot and changes in customer requirements, affects 58 posts at the site.
Distribution will gradually be transferred over the summer months to the Müller Wiseman Dairies depot in Bridgwater, Somerset. Supplies of fresh milk to customers in Cornwall and Devon will be unaffected by this change and the business has confirmed that it has no impact on dairy farmers.
Carl Ravenhall, Managing Director at Müller Wiseman Dairies said: “Great credit is due to the team at Pensilva who have handled the situation the depot finds itself in professionally and remained focused on delivering an excellent service to our customers.
“The whole team, together with union representatives worked extremely hard to find ways of addressing the challenges facing this depot, but unfortunately we have been unable to establish an economic basis for continuing to distribute milk from Pensilva.
“Our priority is to support those who are affected by this decision and we will be working with local agencies to ensure that each individual has access to the services which are available.”
Müller UK & Ireland Group is wholly owned by the Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller. It has 19 sites nationwide and employs almost 6,000 people across four business units: Müller Dairy, Müller Wiseman Dairies, Müller Minsterley and TM Telford.
Based in Market Drayton, Müller Dairy is the UK’s leading yogurt manufacturer, with major brands such as Müller Corner, Müllerlight and Müller Rice.
Müller Wiseman Dairies processes and delivers around 30% of the fresh milk consumed in Britain every day and is famous for its black & white cow-print branding. In December 2013, the business formally opened a major new state of the art butter-making plant in Shropshire, with the capacity to produce up to 45,000 tonnes of salted, unsalted and lactic butter each year.
Müller Minsterley is our facility near Shrewsbury at which chilled desserts including Cadbury Mousse, Trifle and Twin-pot products are made which Müller sells under license from Cadbury.
TM Telford is a state of the art yogurt production facility in Telford, Shropshire which is focused on the development of the company’s presence in the UK private label yogurt market.
To make its range of dairy products, the company buys milk from more than 1,200 British dairy farmers, all of whom are Red Tractor Farm Assured.