New Cheese Factory in North Wales?

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
That was the original idea but then they realised that shutting down for 2-3 months might not be the best way to retain factory staff etc never mind that machinery doesn’t really like not working.

IF it ever gets up and running , I suspect they’d need some AYR or autumn block boys on board.

You need a good shutdown every year for maintenance and improvements.
Staff wouldn't need to be that hard, put them on an annualised hours contract.
Work your hours in 10 months have 2 off. It would make it more attractive surely, no work over Christmas?
Adding complications and expense just to keep the factory running everyday doesn't make much sense.

How much UK processing works 24 hours a day every day?
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
You need a good shutdown every year for maintenance and improvements.
Staff wouldn't need to be that hard, put them on an annualised hours contract.
Work your hours in 10 months have 2 off. It would make it more attractive surely, no work over Christmas?
Adding complications and expense just to keep the factory running everyday doesn't make much sense.

How much UK processing works 24 hours a day every day?

Our processor (mozzarella) works 24/7/365 and I would have thought due to investments in to factories, very few shut down unless forced to e.g. some car manufacturers went on to short time recently due to lack of demand but would otherwise work 24 hour days.
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
Our processor (mozzarella) works 24/7/365 and I would have thought due to investments in to factories, very few shut down unless forced to e.g. some car manufacturers went on to short time recently due to lack of demand but would otherwise work 24 hour days.
Yes but your processor only owns the steel and so wants to maximise it's returns.
You put in a rotary but didn't size it to maximise it's return and run it 24/7 you sized it to make the whole farm balance work.
Fonterra has the benefit of being controlled from cow to stainless and balances the best for the overall picture.
Glanbia in Ireland have just decided to maximise the stainless and put quotas on spring production this is not going down well with their farmers and ICMSA or whatever it's called.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Yes but your processor only owns the steel and so wants to maximise it's returns.
You put in a rotary but didn't size it to maximise it's return and run it 24/7 you sized it to make the whole farm balance work.
Fonterra has the benefit of being controlled from cow to stainless and balances the best for the overall picture.
Glanbia in Ireland have just decided to maximise the stainless and put quotas on spring production this is not going down well with their farmers and ICMSA or whatever it's called.
Certain factories in Ireland used to shut down.
Glanbia being one?
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Our processor (mozzarella) works 24/7/365 and I would have thought due to investments in to factories, very few shut down unless forced to e.g. some car manufacturers went on to short time recently due to lack of demand but would otherwise work 24 hour days.

I thought someone on here mentioned that there was more demand for milk during the week as some places closed down at the weekend?
We have a lot of places run 24/7 round here but not always for the whole year.
Fonterra starts and stops factories as milk volumes and product orders change as they finally have spare capacity.
Some of the freezing works are seasonal I think although FreshPork in town runs all year and uses it as a n advantage when recruiting.

I'd have thought the first problem for a new cheese factory would be getting enough profitable orders, for cheaper COP spring milk and work from there.
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
I thought someone on here mentioned that there was more demand for milk during the week as some places closed down at the weekend?
We have a lot of places run 24/7 round here but not always for the whole year.
Fonterra starts and stops factories as milk volumes and product orders change as they finally have spare capacity.
Some of the freezing works are seasonal I think although FreshPork in town runs all year and uses it as a n advantage when recruiting.

I'd have thought the first problem for a new cheese factory would be getting enough profitable orders, for cheaper COP spring milk and work from there.

IIRC the aim was to produce an Edam type mild cheddar so it would be possible to shut the factory down.

However, I learnt today that Glanbia Ireland have had to invest over £700m to cope with the Irish flush off grass so the factory is maxed out for 8 weeks of the year then tapers off fairly quickly to the extent that they now have to limit their suppliers production profile.
Hell of a lot of money not to run at or near capacity round the clock
 

multi power

Member
Location
pembrokeshire
That was the original idea but then they realised that shutting down for 2-3 months might not be the best way to retain factory staff etc never mind that machinery doesn’t really like not working.

IF it ever gets up and running , I suspect they’d need some AYR or autumn block boys on board.
The kiwis have been doing it successfully for 100 years
People go on holiday, do maintenance etc when cows are dry
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
IIRC the aim was to produce an Edam type mild cheddar so it would be possible to shut the factory down.

However, I learnt today that Glanbia Ireland have had to invest over £700m to cope with the Irish flush off grass so the factory is maxed out for 8 weeks of the year then tapers off fairly quickly to the extent that they now have to limit their suppliers production profile.
Hell of a lot of money not to run at or near capacity round the clock

Most milk factories here are shut down or run at low capacity for big chunks of time. There is a bit of focus trying to get more winter milk, but it costs more to produce so they have to pay more to the farmer but can't charge more for the finished product as a result.
I was told once that there were more people working on site at Fonterra's Clandeboye factory during it's 2 month shutdown than when it was at peak.
I think the factory goes from 13 million litres a day at peak to just a couple of million on the shoulders.
Life would be a lot easier if it was a level profile 365 days a year but I don't think it will ever happen.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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