Dairy and cheese process automation

Where control matters in a dairy plant

• Milk receiving and silos. Tanker unloading, metering, silo level and temperature, and lot assignment for traceability from the farm load onward.
• Pasteurization. For Grade "A" operations subject to the applicable Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), public-health controls must meet the prescribed equipment, computer-control, sealing and testing requirements. General process controls must not command or override protected public-health functions. We define supervisory and recording interfaces with the pasteurizer supplier and regulatory authority.
• Standardization and separation. Fat and protein standardization to spec, with in-line measurements feeding recipe targets.
• Cheese make. Vat fill, culture and rennet addition, cook temperature profiles, cutting and stirring sequences, draining and transfer, all driven by recipe, with times and temperatures recorded per vat.
• Whey and by-products. Whey collection, separation, concentration and drying, often as large a process as the cheese make itself.
• CIP. Multi-circuit cleaning with verified time, temperature, flow and concentration, and records that tie each clean to the equipment it released. More on CIP →
• Utilities. Refrigeration, glycol, steam and water. They are often the biggest energy cost in the plant and benefit from the same visibility as production.

Why a DCS fits dairy

Cheese plants in particular combine many recipes, many vats and shared equipment, which is exactly the problem ISA-88 batch control was built for. When each make procedure is a recipe, a new variety or customer spec that fits existing equipment capabilities becomes a recipe change rather than a programming project. How batch control works →

A coordinated production, CIP and utilities system can simplify process-history and batch reporting. Lot investigations also require reliable material identification and interfaces to the systems holding receiving, packaging and shipment records. Food-safety traceability →

Design points we pay attention to

• Documented separation and interfaces between applicable PMO public-health controls and general process control, reviewed with the pasteurizer supplier and regulatory authority.
• Hygienic instruments and enclosures for wet process areas. Hygienic design →
• Route and valve-matrix management designed to segregate product and CIP solution, with appropriate valve arrangements, feedback, leakage detection and verification.
• Allergen and changeover sequencing for plants that run multiple product families.