The Nation’s largest milk processor now faces competition from its biggest customer. Wal-Mart plans to start building its first milk processing plant this summer. Wal-Mart accounts for 16 percent of Dean Foods processing, the largest milk processor in the United States. Bloomberg reports Wal-Mart’s Indiana facility is expected to be one of the largest in the milk industry and will begin supplying the retailer’s private label Great Value brand next year. The store-owned processor will start supplying milk to Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and northern Kentucky. The plant will allow Wal-Mart to lower cost and lengthen shelf life by bringing the production closer to the point of sale. More than 600 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club locations are expected to be supplied by the new factory. Dean currently produces milk for the Great Value brand and will continue to be a supplier in other parts of the country. Still, the move came as a surprise and introduced a new threat to Dean’s fresh dairy volumes and margins. For now, Wal-Mart has no plans of building more milk processing plants across the nation.