m ller milk & ingredients industry dairy founded 1947 as robert wiseman dairies headquarters nerston east kilbride scotland key people andrew mcinnes managing director products liquid milk cream orange juice butter owner m ller number of employees 8 000 2015 website www.muller.co.uk m ller milk & ingredients formerly robert wiseman dairies and later m ller wiseman dairies is the largest milk supplier and distributor in great britain . it is part of the m ller uk & ireland group that employs over 4 000 people . they have ten major dairies in aberdeen east kilbride glasgow manchester droitwich spa bridgwater severnside chadwell heath foston and hanworth . the company also produces frijj milkshake cream orange juice and more recently butter . in december 2015 the milk business of dairy crest was merged into the company following the purchase of the business by its parent . the company now delivers milk to around 715 000 households via their milk & more doorstep delivery business . following completion of the sale the company was renamed . 1 it supplies around 30 per cent of britain s fresh milk and has britain s biggest fresh milk distribution network . m ller milk & ingredients also supply several large grocery retailers . contents 1 history 2 products 3 operations 4 references 5 external links history edit robert wiseman dairies was founded in 1947 by robert wiseman . it started off as a small family farm in east kilbride that carried out doorstep deliveries using a horse and cart . alan wiseman joined the business straight from school in 1967 and worked his way up to become chairman . eight years later robert wiseman junior became managing director . in 1988 the company built a bespoke dairy in bellshill glasgow . this dairy was designed for supermarket supplies and quickly gained contracts from some of the larger retailers . having achieved success within scotland the directors were determined to continue expanding the business and saw an opportunity to repeat what had been achieved in scotland by establishing a production base in the north of england . robert wiseman dairies was listed on the london stock exchange in 1994 . in the same year the government abolished the milk marketing boards across the uk allowing dairy farmers to sell their milk to whomever they chose . at this time wiseman created the wiseman milk partnership a group of farmers contracted to supply their milk direct to robert wiseman dairies . the company opened a dairy in droitwich spa in 2001 which at the time was the biggest in europe and has a maximum capacity to process 650 million litres per year . 2006 saw the acquisition of the milk link liquid milk business which meant the company stretched from keith in the north of scotland to cornwall in the south of england . in 2008 robert wiseman dairies opened a dairy in bridgwater which is considered to be britain s most efficient and environmentally advanced fresh milk dairy . in january 2012 the company agreed to a takeover by the german dairy company m ller and was returned to private ownership . the business then became known as m ller wiseman dairies and is part of the m ller uk & ireland group . carl ravenhall was appointed managing director of m ller wiseman dairies in march 2013 . in november 2014 dairy crest announced the sale of its milk processing and distribution business to m ller for 80 million 2 to be combined with m ller wiseman dairies . 3 the sale was approved by the competition and markets authority on 19 october 2015 4 and was completed on 26 december 2015 . 5 products edit m ller wiseman dairies produces some the uk s most recognisable fresh milk brands including the country s first semi skimmed milk fresh n lo puriti with its extended shelf life and the one a 1 % fat milk . the most recognised brand is the m ller wiseman black and white brand milk and there are six regional labels currently in the portfolio grampian milk from scotland west country cornish milk from wales and more recently milk from the northern dairy . milk is not the only product in their portfolio they process and distribute double whipping single and clotted cream along with orange juice . since december 2015 muller now produce frijj milkshakes . m ller wiseman also owns the uk s largest butter plant in market drayton . the 17 million plant was officially opened on the 6th december 2013 by theo m ller senior and owen paterson mp for north shropshire and then secretary of state for environment food and rural affairs . the plant is capable of producing 45 000 tonnes of salted unsalted and lactic butter made with cream from british dairy farms . operations edit muller s chadwell heath milk production site formerly dairy crest in july 2013 the company announced the closure of its keith and whitburn depots because of a significant reduction in the number of delivery runs from each site . in october 2013 m ller wiseman dairies state of the art droitwich dairy one of the biggest in their portfolio was damaged by a fire . despite immediate shut down of operations at the business largest fresh milk dairy the company maintained supplies of fresh milk to its customers by increasing production at other sites and the co operation with other dairy suppliers . in december 2015 the company took on the online ordering service for its doorstep customers known as milk & more formerly operated by dairy crest . references edit delight over 80m muller merger . shropshire star . 28 december 2015 . retrieved 29 december 2015 . dairy crest sells milk operations as profits slump . bbc news . retrieved 6 november 2014 . dairy crest agrees to sell its dairies operations to m ller uk & ireland group . dairy crest . 6 november 2014 . retrieved 6 february 2015 . ratcliffe madeline 19 october 2015 . dairy crest share price rises as cma approves muller takeover . city am . retrieved 23 october 2015 . daneshkhu scheherazade 28 december 2015 . dairy crest loses taste for uk milk production with m ller deal . financial times . retrieved 28 december 2015 . external links edit official website v t e agriculture in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom agriculture companies arla foods uk bernard matthews farms dairy crest faccenda group farmcare frontier agriculture genus m ller wiseman dairies nfu mutual norbrook group openfield vestey group conservation grazing marsh hedgerow removal rare breeds survival trust government and regulation agricultural land classification agriculture and horticulture development board potato council animal health and veterinary laboratories agency british cattle movement service the country code crown estate department of agriculture and rural development northern ireland department for environment food and rural affairs institute for animal health legislation meat and livestock commission natural england rights of way in scotland rural development council rural payments agency scottish government enterprise and environment directorate 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hutton institute museums museum of english rural life national museum of rural life national non food crops centre nottingham arabidopsis stock centre rothamsted research royal highland and agricultural society of scotland soil association tenant farmers association universities and colleges cafre royal agricultural university scotland s rural college sectors beekeeping june gap fell farming forestry other countryfile eglu farmers weekly farming today hurdles category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title m ller milk % 26 ingredients & oldid 742393512 categories dairy products companies of the united kingdomcompanies of scotlandfood and drink companies established in 19471947 establishments in scotlandbritish companies established in 1947hidden categories use dmy dates from march 2014use british english from march 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more 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