In 1927, nearly 100 years ago, the Berchtesgadener Land Dairy Cooperative was formally established. Currently, the company has 500 employees, processing 1.1 million liters of raw milk every day into a total of more than 150 products including a variety of different yogurt and condensed dairy products and cream until ultra-high temperature milk, long-term shelf milk and fresh milk. All products are produced in piding factory, most of which are traditional products and ecological products.
As the first dairy company in Germany, the cooperative began processing its eco-products through five Demite (Demeter)-certified companies in 1973. At present, there are about 600 ecological farmers belonging to the cooperative, of which 100 are Demite certified farmers and 500 are Naturland certified farmers.
The design of the company administration building is modern and warm. The reception hall has a real size cow in the shape, which is people of the alpine grass. On the activity partition of the restaurant, there are all huge artistic photos of cows, and the reception room uses the cow bell as the lampshade. Everything revolves around the cows which is the precious wealth of the 1,800 herdsmen of the dairy cooperative.
In the conversation with dairy employees, there was a close connection between them and farms and premium milk. Customers can fully feel the highest business goal: to achieve the best dairy price for dairy farmers through quality products and good marketing, to ensure the survival of the enterprise. In the mountains between Watzman and Chg, mainly small farming, with an average of 27 cows per household and their income is the most important demand. For the survival of farmers, enterprises have paid almost everything. For example, milk tankers follow the rugged and steep mountain road to the alpine pasture, more than 1,000 meters above sea level, and go back and forth every two days during the alpine grazing season.
Milk collection trucks can also send herdsmen in mountainous areas to alpine pastures more than 1,000 meters above sea level
Everything revolves around the cows and the precious milk
Fresh milk is the highest grade of dairy products and the company fills this valuable wealth in glass bottles. To meet the growing demand for bottled milk, the cooperative updated its recycled glass bottle line for ecological milk, alpine pasture milk and cream, investing in a new recycled glass bottle filling line with bottle conveyor system, case conveyor system，pallet conveyor system.
Production manager Paul
Paul, the production manager said, " Traditional fresh milk is the most difficult product in our production range. We want to keep all the ingredients in the milk and treat the process as much as no damage as possible. This high-value product requires the use of the most expensive packaging, namely the glass bottle packaging."The plant began filling fresh milk in recycled glass bottles in 1990. The demand for recycled glass bottles of fresh milk continues to increase, while the original equipment capacity is only 6,000 bottles per hour, creating a capacity bottleneck. The capacity gap is so big that we even eliminated the traditional glass bottle cream. In 2019, the cooperative decided to invest in a new production line with bottle conveyor system, case conveyor systemfor recycling glass bottles by changing the purpose of a plant originally intended for recycling glass bottles. In this way, to love the glass bottle cream customers to return to the promise. Now, at the start of the 2022 strawberry season, 500 ml bottles with the green trademark are back on refrigerated shelves. In total, the company has invested tens of millions of euros in new plants and new production lines. For the members of the cooperative, this means that they give up the maximization of milk money and turn to guarantee the future. Accordingly, higher requirements for the equipment and project leader Paul also bears greater responsibility.
Fresh milk and cream produced in the traditional way
New ecological products
Paul stressed."For the production of traditional fresh milk, we must ensure that the equipment always operates reliably. We don't have a long maintenance time. When milk arrives at the dairy every day, it must be supplied quickly to ensure the cold chain shelf life of the retail industry. When filling this unsterilized milk, the extremely high purity standard of the production process is the highest requirement. If the bacteria enter from the outside, the milk will deteriorate quickly and cannot meet the shelf life requirements. In addition, the filling area should not be stained due to the empty bottle contamination when filling the recycled bottle. Therefore, the bottle washing machine, filling machine and the whole production line are very high requirements. We produce fresh milk in the traditional way, using recycled glass bottles which has almost become an outlier. Now, very few businesses do that. The so-called "traditional production mode" means that dairy enterprises produce real fresh milk with a shelf life of eight days. This high-grade product is completely different from the products that extend the shelf life. Fresh milk was heated between 72 and 75℃ for 15 to 30 seconds to complete pasteurization without damaging products. In this way, all pathogenic bacteria are killed while the vitamins and natural dairy tastes remain the same. Paul said that the bottle washing machine, bottle filling combination machine, labeling machine, bottle conveyor system,case conveyor system and other core machines all choose Krones equipment. Since purchasing the first set of bottled equipment more than 30 years ago, we are familiar with and trust each other. For each device, Krones has his own expert to answer all questions. Our two companies are close to each other, most of the project staff can work with us until equipment acceptance. The new production line uses the traditional way of producing fresh milk with a capacity of 12,000 bottles per hour: specifically, Demeter certified milk uses 1 liter brown bottle, mountain farm traditional milk uses 1 liter transparent bottle, both are divided into low fat and full fat. Naturland Eco-certified cream and traditional cream using 500 ml bottles, this product has a production capacity of 15,000 bottles per hour. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plant will be completed in 2021 as scheduled and the production line is scheduled to be put into operation in February 2022. With the help of the new recycling glass bottle production line, four goals have been achieved: first, quality improvement: when designing the hygiene scheme of the whole production line, it is required to achieve a higher shelf life, exceeding the requirements of the retail industry for traditional fresh milk. To improve the safety of production, to meet the future consumer demand change to prepare in advance. The second is to improve the sanitary conditions: it is divided into three areas of different clean levels: the pollution area is the area of recycling empty bottles into the bottle washing machine, which is strictly separated from the subsequent clean area. The clean area starts with the clean bottle at the other end of the bottle washing machine. The bottle flushing and filling assembly machine is installed in the isolation zone. Three is to reduce water consumption: after the use of a new brush washing equipment, tap water consumption is reduced by half. Fourth, improve the working conditions: reduce the noise for the employees, and the working environment is quieter. Due to the need to divide the pollution area and the clean area, a double-end bottle washing machine must be used to separate the inlet and outlet in space. A partition between the bottle and the bottle divides the production workshop into two areas. Lavatec The bottle washing machine itself is specially designed for high hygiene standards, including all important components, all using stainless steel knots.
Lavatec D4 Ability to reliably remove all fat and milk residues on the bottle
Considering that the bottle has some residual fat and milk when entering the bottle washing machine, the residence time of the container in the alkali area should be extended accordingly to ensure that the Lavatec D4 has a better cleaning ability. To ensure the longer processing time, the size of the machine was increased. Milk protein is easy to produce foam, in the design of bottle pretreatment, a lot of foam must be avoided. The equipment adopts sanitary design, and there is no dead corners and edges that can lead to liquid residue. The curve of the bottle that pushes the clean bottle to the conveyor belt adopts antibacterial plastic to avoid secondary dyeing. Lavatec Equipped with two base areas: the first base area has been washed away most of the dirt, therefore, the second base area is almost no longer polluted. This two-alkali zone design can significantly reduce the amount of dirt in the sewage tank. In general, the water consumption of the new bottle washing machine is reduced by nearly half, and the consumption of chemicals is also significantly reduced. The bottle filling machine is designed to reliably provide traditional fresh milk with a shelf life of eight days, in addition to a longer shelf life. This all-in-one machine consists of Modulfill NWJ filling machine and Moduljet electronic dual-channel bottle punch and can meet the highest hygiene requirements. The ceiling isolation room is equipped with high efficiency air filter to ensure a clean environment in the filling area. In addition, the partition wall between the filling machine and the bottle flushing machine can avoid the dyeing bacteria caused by the splash of the bottle flushing machine. The sanitation program also includes a wide range of automated foam scrub. Modulfill The filling machine is equipped with a contactless filling valve to handle milk, and can also meet the hygienic standards of cold sterile equipment. Although the weights of the 1-liter and 500-ml bottles vary greatly, and the cream and milk have different specific gravity, the weighing unit can accurately guarantee the filling volume of both products.
The bottle-filling assembly machine is installed in the isolation room
The quality acceptance of the bottle filling combination machine shall be completed by both parties. The tedious tests ensure the specified shelf life and the applicability of the long-term shelf milk. To this end, also specially filled with sterile room temperature milk, and then tested. Paul was pleased: " Everything we expected, this device would do it."Low-fat milk, whole milk and even 32% fat cream are all filled in the same filling machine which is a real challenge. Low-fat milk bleams strongly and initially requires a slow influx. Instead, the cream is not allowed to turn into butter and must flow slowly out through as much as possible. To ensure a slightly longer filling time for low-fat milk, Modulfill with 45 filling valves have a larger diameter than the conventional requirement relative to this filling speed. This scheme has achieved good results. Paul said, " Milk is a natural product, and its contents are not always constant, especially in the spring and fall when adjusting the cow feed, which can produce large fluctuations. The original use of old equipment, every day to low-fat milk adjustment speed. When the new filling machine handled low-fat milk for the first time, we all stood nervously in front of the equipment. It's very exciting that there are no problems, and right now, we've adjusted it to 12,000 bottles per hour, and everything is fine."Another key need is a fast product conversion. The line is filled with six different fresh milk products and requires multiple transformations per day. Most importantly, Demeter certified milk is not allowed to have any trace of any other product. Raw materials are very valuable, but the loss has to be reduced. The filling machine is equipped with a special filling valve emptying tank, and the "washing milk" can be collected in this way and processed into other products without waste.
The anti-counterfeiting mark must be reliable and flat underground when running at high speed.
Ergomatic labeler (including the Checkmat EM testing station and the inkjet system) sticks the simple green and blue logo on the bottle. Paul says precious Demmit certified milk and alpine milk need a perfect look. Bottles are placed on refrigerated shelves, and the first things customers see are trademarks and bottles. The look must match the product and we started using the Crane brand machine in 1990 and bought a second one six years ago. Maintenance workers and operators are already familiar with this kind of machine which is very important.
Inkjet system print product shelf life
The challenge here is the anti-counterfeiting trademark which turns from under the cap to the bottle. It must be pasted on the cap at high speed and then turned down to the bottle. Cold glue labeling is used here. Although the pasting effect of the bottle cap is poor based on respect for the bottle cap."This creates heat in the bottleneck space and we want the product to stay quiet. The trademark of the plane is glued to the bottle with the same label as the brush and printed by the inkjet system. The built-in Checkmat is the last station in the production line to detect the bottles and thereafter, the bottles are loaded into a turnaround box. The high-resolution camera can detect its trademark orientation, fat grade description and product shelf life for all bottle types. The new recycling glass bottle production line has completed the final acceptance, both speed and reliability to meet the current needs. The old bottled line had long been removed and the precious space was soon used elsewhere. Paul was very satisfied: " The site for the new production line is not very large, but the layout is very reasonable. Everyone who has seen the new production line has found it very successful.”
