June 25, 2015
Minister Simon Coveney Opens New $12 million Facility in Thiel Cheese and Ingredients, Wisconsin
Irish Dairy Board Completes $80 million US Food Ingredients Investment Programme
Irish Dairy Board US Food Ingredients Capacity raised by 40%
The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) today, Wednesday 25 June, opened a new cheese manufacturing facility at its Thiel Cheese & Ingredients (Thiel) operations in Wisconsin, marking the completion of an $80 million expansion programme in its US Food Ingredients business. Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Simon Coveney officially opened the new $12 million facility. The centre boasts some of the most advanced dairy processing equipment in the US dairy sector and includes a state-of-the-art Innovation Centre that will provide functional cheese solutions to its US Food Ingredient and Food Service customers. The new facility will increase IDB’s US Food Ingredient production capacity by 40%.
The US expansion programme provides IDB with greater scale in the value-added cheese ingredients sector and is in-line with its strategy to invest in high growth and profitable dairy businesses. The business provides an important route to market for Irish casein and through its extensive US customer base, is opening up further opportunities for Irish dairy products. This, aligned with the overall success of the US operations, will help ensure that IDB continues to deliver a strong return to its members and to Irish dairy farmers.
Speaking at the opening, Minister Coveney said:
“I’m delighted to be here today to mark this significant new investment by IDB. This new facility will further strengthen the positioning of Ireland and Irish Agri-business expertise in the United States as well as supporting the economic wellbeing of Irish dairy farmers. We are entering an exciting time for the Irish dairy sector as milk quotas are abolished from next April and today’s opening represents the kind of investment which will help the sector realise its true potential.”
Commenting on the announcement Kevin Lane, CEO, IDB said:
“Today marks the completion of a very significant investment programme by IDB into the US Food Ingredients market and is in-line with our growth strategy to invest in high growth dairy businesses that deliver strong returns to our members. The focus of this investment is on innovation as much as production with our new facility enhancing our ability to create innovative food solutions that meet the evolving needs of our US customer base and their brands. These innovations and the deep knowledge base at Thiel will be shared across all of our operations, supporting our Group’s NPD growth strategy.”