Muller confirms the closure of its Foston Derbyshire facility

It was a forgone conclusion that as part of Mullers £100 million project Darwin it would close at least one factory and it was no surprise that Foston is the one to be closed by the end of this year with the loss of 223 full time jobs. Most of the milk will be diverted to Mullers Manchester or Market Drayton facilities.

Regrettably 31 farmers are likely to be served 12 months notice by Muller as a result of the closure mainly due to geographical location. Muller will shortly be meeting the farmers involved both in groups and individually.

The main issue is the constant annual reduction in liquid consumption which is reducing by approximately 70 to 80 million litres year. In addition Fostons geographical location in relation to Mullers other operations and its relatively small size circa 350 million litres year are both key factors in the decision to close.

In order to achieve Mullers 2 year £100 million turnaround target under Project Darwin Muller are likely to have to make further tough announcements and decisions.

Muller acquired the Foston factory from Dairy Crest 3 years ago, so this is not a knee jerk reaction. With a minimum target of all its processing facilities to be at 90% plus utilisation and today with Foston averaging under 80% utilisation (180 farmers suppling 270 million litres annually) Muller were forced to take action. The site is not for sale and is likely to be put to new uses by the Muller Group.