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The five-year £12m redevelopment of Arla Foods Manchester dairy is now complete.
Boasting the most high-tech fridge in Arla and an up-to-date milk intake area, the project has more than fulfilled its aim of creating a more modern dairy with a better flow of product round the site.
The four-phase project kicked off with the redevelopment and expansion of milk reception. Flexibility has significantly increased with the site being able to store an extra 350,000 litres of milk and the number of milk intake bays has gone from four to six.
A further advantage is the new control system which means Manchester can trace its raw milk back to source.
One of the biggest benefits of phase one has been the installation of a new incoming tanker weighbridge, says project manager Chris Walsh.
"This has allowed a one way traffic system at the site which in turn has improved traffic management and safety."
As well as the new office block and amenities block. the cold store came under focus in phase two and the fridge has now been knocked into one large area with the added advantage of an automated trolley system .
"The automated system involves carts transporting loaded trolleys direct from the filler into the fridge and the system reads the barcodes on the bottles and knows which lane to store the trolleys so product of the same type is kept together," explained Chris.
This is drastically improving life in the fridge, which has increased by over a third in capacity and can now house over half a million four pint bottles. With more loading bays, gone are the bottle necks and a new empty trolley handling system means a seamless supply of trolleys to the filling lines as well as a reduction in the number of damaged trollies.
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