Effective from this month, Ball end-to-end UK supply chain activities and oversee a team of more than 2,800 employees.
Ball has spent the past three years as vice president for production at the dairy cooperative and has more than 20 years of experience in the manufacturing sector.
The role of vice president of UK supply chain is a newly created position, with a focus on building a stronger supply chain from “farm to fridge” and strengthening customer delivery through empowering local teams.
“Leading UK production has been a huge privilege,” Ball said.
“Together, we’ve built a fantastic team focused on manufacturing excellence, an inclusive culture, and securing significant investment in our UK sites, such as Taw Valley and Lockerbie. Now as we create a new end-to-end supply chain team, we will continue to build on our collaboration and team working to remain focused on delivering for our customers and adding value for our consumers.”
Meanwhile, managing director for Arla Foods UK, Bas Padberg, said that the firm was thrilled to welcome Ball into the new role.
“Over the past three years she has demonstrated outstanding leadership, driving innovation and efficiency across our UK sites,” Padberg added.
“Her deep manufacturing expertise and commitment to fostering an inclusive culture will be instrumental as we continue to invest in our supply chain and deliver the highest-quality dairy products to our customers and shoppers. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Fran to strengthen our operations and support our ambitious growth plans.”
Arla Foods UK has numerous sites across the country, manufacturing products for brands such as Lurpak, Arla Cravendale, and Arla Protein. It is the UK arm of Arla, a global business which is owned by 7,600 farmers in Denmark, Sweden, UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and sells products in more than 100 countries.
