Walmart, one of the largest supermarkets in the US, is to establish a milk processing plant in Indiana in the US.
The plant, which is to create more than 200 jobs ranging from milk processing to transportation by the end of 2017, is being built to provide the supermarket with its own milk supply and say it will save shoppers money.
Construction is to begin in the summer of the facility which is expected to be more than 250,000sq ft in size and will be one of the largest in the industry.
Walmart estimates that milk processing will begin in the summer of 2017.
According to Walmart, the plant will leverage the latest technologies to produce Great Value and Member’s Mark white and chocolate milk for more than 600 Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Northern Kentucky
Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence said that Indiana’s agriculture industry contributes $31 billion to the state’s economy and supports more than 100,000 jobs.
Tony Airoso, Senior Vice President of Sourcing Strategy for Walmart US, said that by operating its own plant and working directly with the dairy supply chain in the Midwest, Walmart will further reduce operating costs and pass those savings on to our customers so that they can save money.
“This facility is an example of how we are always finding efficiencies within the supply chain to deliver everyday low prices and high quality groceries.”
Indiana has 21 dairy processing plants and 14 farmstead operations, helping the state rank number 14 in the nation in milk production and number two in ice cream production.
On average, Indiana has roughly 184,000 dairy cows which can produce 61lb of milk per day, accounting for nearly 2% of total US milk production.
The news follows on a year after the state’s 2015 dairy strategy, to grow the state’s industry by increasing the volume of dairy processing and creating market opportunities for expanded dairy production.
With more than 1,200 dairies, Indiana produced more than 4 billion pounds of milk last year – 348m pounds in December alone – but approximately 4m pounds are exported every day.
