Arla Aylesbury is the largest dairy in the UK; at opening it was the world's biggest dairy,
/ref> processing over 1.75 billion pints (1 billion litres) of milk per year, around 10% of the milk in the UK.
It is owned by Arla Foods UK
Arla Foods Ltd is a major dairy products company in the United Kingdom, based in Leeds, and a subsidiary of the Arla Foods Group, which is owned by its farmer owners in seven countries including the UK.
Company profile
The company was crea ...
which is a subsidiary of Arla Foods
, industry = Dairy
, predecessor = ArlaMD Foods
, founded =
, founder =
, location_city = Viby
, location_country = Denmark
, area_served = Worldwide
, key_people = Peder Tub ...
, a large producer of dairy products in Scandinavia.
History
The first investment proposal for the dairy came in November 2009. Planning permission was submitted in September 2011. Construction started in February 2012, by Caddick Construction. The plant was officially opened on 28 May 2014, with Åke Hantoft, the Chairman of Arla Foods
, industry = Dairy
, predecessor = ArlaMD Foods
, founded =
, founder =
, location_city = Viby
, location_country = Denmark
, area_served = Worldwide
, key_people = Peder Tub ...
, in attendance.
The UK dairy industry is worth around £3.7bn.
Production
It can process up to 420,000 pints (240,000 litres) of milk per hour. Arla Foods UK processes 6.1 billion pints (3.5 billion of litres) of milk per year, turning over £2.2bn. It has eight processing lines, with eight bottle sizes. Around 900 farmers supply milk to the site; Arla UK represents around 2,800 British dairy farmers.
It produces about five bottles per second and makes around 400 deliveries from the site each day. In despatch, all the milk is transported by robots - it is the only dairy in the UK like this, working with RFID technology. Without robots, it would require around 300 workers in despatch. Around 30% of UK dairy farms have robotic systems.
Arla in the UK makes around 43% of Britain's butter.
Structure
It is situated north of the A41 in Aylesbury Vale
The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertford ...
, and between this to the south and the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...
to the north. The total site is 70 acres.
See also
* CCE Wakefield, Europe's largest soft drinks factory, in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
References
External links
Arla UK sites
Food Processing Technology
{{Authority control
2014 establishments in England
Arla Foods
Aylesbury Vale
Buildings and structures in Buckinghamshire
Commercial buildings completed in 2014
Dairy farming in the United Kingdom
Economy of Buckinghamshire
Food manufacturers of England