Valio expands Finland production facility with €10m investment

Valio is investing €10m ($10.9m) to renovate a cold storage area at a factory in its home market of Finland to boost efficiencies in production.

The farmer-owned dairy cooperative said the capital investment at the facility in the town of Suonenjoki, located in the Northern Savonia region, will “improve the pre-treatment of frozen berries, fruits, vegetables and herbs processed in the factory and increase predictability in production and raw material management”.

In a statement posted on Valio’s LinkedIn page, Finland’s largest milk processor said the project, complete with automation equipment to process the frozen ingredients, is expected to be completed in 2025.

Valio added the investment in the so-called “pre-processing” area at Suonenjoki will increase floorspace by “several hundred” square meters and will include a new defrosting system.

Robotics will also be added as part of the project to ease the physical demands on workers.

Markku Ihasalo, factory manager at Valio, said: “Through the investment, we will be able to use new technology in the factory, with which the temperature of frozen raw materials can be raised from -20C during transport and storage to -2C during product processing, within a few minutes.

Just Food