Milk Link completes multi-million pound investment
Milk Link (UK) has completed phase one of a major investment project at the Cheese Company packing plant in Shropshire.
The completion of phase one – at a cost of £2.5 million (£3.2m) is an important step in making the plant more advanced.
The site, which packs 800 tonnes of cheese every week, has undergone a major reorganisation and refurbishment since the project began last spring. Two lines have been installed – one for slices and one for flow wrap – both of which use the very latest packing technology. The packing hall has been completely reoriented to accommodate the new lines and to provide flexibility going forward for new equipment.
As well as making the plant more productive in terms of volume, the programme, known as Project Vision, aims to benefit The Cheese Company’s customers, which include Sainsbury’s, M&S, Waitrose, Tesco and Iceland and 3663. More automated processes will aim to provide better quality control whilst the investment in new technology will enable the company to provide packaging solutions for retailers whose needs constantly change.
Robotic technology is also being introduced for the packing and palletisation of cheese slices with the infrastructure in place for all flow wrap lines to be robotically palletised sometime in the future. The use of this technology will provide opportunities for staff to increase their skill set in an industry that is increasingly using new technology for quality control and packing. Training is vital to the next phase of the project, which gets underway later this year.
