New state-of-the-art milk factory to deliver hundreds of jobs to West Bromwich

Mayor Richard Parker has toured the region’s latest investment project – a new state-of-the-art milk and dairy processing factory, set to create 200 jobs in West Bromwich.

Freshways, the UK’s largest independent dairy supplier, has invested £25 million in the facility, which will pasteurise and package almost 900 million pints of fresh milk a year – enough to fill 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Work on the dairy is nearing completion with production expected to start at the end of the year.

At least 200 people will be employed at the site with more jobs likely to follow as the plant scales up. The company will focus on recruiting local young people in support of the Mayor’s Youth Employment Plan.

The British company has also imported specialist milk processing machinery from India in one of the first major deals to be completed since the UK and Indian governments signed a free trade deal in July.

From left: Bali Nijjar, MD of Freshways, Mayor Richard Parker and Cllr Kerrie Carmichael, leader of Sandwell Council

Mayor Richard Parker said: “This major investment in West Bromwich will support British dairy farming, bolster our food supply chain, and create at least 200 new jobs for local people – helping me to deliver on my Growth Plan.

“It also clearly shows how strong trade relationships with India benefit our region – bringing specialist Indian engineering to create one of the UK’s most advanced dairy facilities on our doorstep.

“And it is another vote of confidence in the West Midlands as the best place to invest and grow a business.”

Engineering specialists from IDMC based in Gujarat, India manufactured over 200 pieces of specialist equipment including five stainless steel silos weighing in at 17 tonnes each and together capable of holding 625,000 litres of fresh British milk. A team of engineers from India are overseeing the installation and will train Freshways staff.

IDMC is hopeful the contract, the biggest it has ever landed outside India, and the new free trade agreement will enable them to partner in more UK dairy projects.

Investment in advanced manufacturing is at the centre of the Mayor’s Growth Plan, launched earlier this year, and is under discussion at the Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham today (Tuesday October 21).

The summit, which is being co-hosted by the Chancellor, the Mayor and Secretary of State for Business and Trade, gives the West Midlands and other regions the chance to showcase to global investors their potential for growth, innovation, and talent.

Freshways has seen a huge increase in orders from its food service and retail customers in the first six months of this year, creating a need for the modernised processing capacity at West Bromwich to meet demand.

The new factory will increase Freshways processing capacity by 25% enabling the company to buy even more fresh milk from hundreds of British dairy farms, many of them based in the Midlands.

Bali Nijjar, MD of Freshways said: “This new West Midlands dairy hub is ideally located to collect more fresh milk from our loyal British farmers, processing and packing it efficiently and sustainably, before moving it on to our customers.

“We can’t wait to get started in the West Midlands and look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to the business. Our Indian engineering partners and the local contractors are working around the clock to get things ready and we very much hope to start bringing millions of litres of delicious fresh British milk to the site by the end of the year.”

Recruitment for staff at the new dairy on the Park Rose Industrial Estate will start shortly with opportunities including engineering, quality assurance, food safety, logistics and support services.

Cllr Kerrie Carmichael, leader of Sandwell Council said: “This is great news for West Bromwich. We have a long history of industrial innovation and people making it here in Sandwell, so welcoming the new Freshways plant with its international collaboration and new jobs is another chapter in our story.

“This shows that we can really think big when we encourage investment in Sandwell, as part of our ambition to drive economic growth in the Black Country Growth Corridor, a key element of the West Midlands Growth Plan.”

Freshways is backing the Mayor’s Youth Employment Plan and wants to encourage young local talent to explore rewarding career opportunities within the dairy and food sector.

The recruitment team will actively engage with local schools, colleges and universities, including through job fairs and campus talks, to discuss a range of opportunities from work placements and apprenticeships to full time roles.