In the last few decades, there is a significant change in the ways of dairy and milk processing processes in dairy plants. On the farms and in the plants, industry veterans are embracing automation to streamline their operations. This trend has far-reaching consequences, as there is a pre-programming governing a majority of these processes. Even so, given the constant emergence of new technologies, automation in the dairy industry still has a lot of potential.
Automated Process Control in the Dairy Industry
Automation is a fast-moving industry. Electro-mechanical relays were the standard control system in the food industry a few decades ago. Manufacturing execution systems that use programmable information chipsets have now supplanted this antiquated technology. The electronic memory stores the data bits of the production recipes, allowing food processing plants to achieve optimized ‘intelligent factory’ characteristics. ‘Embedded Automation’ is the term for this type of stored automation.
Management of Integrated Dairy Processing Plants
In the dairy industry, automation currently aims in developing a comprehensive, integrated dairy plant management system. Automation consultants can help factories design a MES that unifies all dairy processes into a single, streamlined process. Plant managers can use automation systems and controllers with a user-friendly interface to track product transfer from one production section to another.
The Dairy Industry Uses Custom Automation
Custom, controlled systems that can help increase dairy plant efficiency are required as the product line grows. Dairy plants are not all alike, and automation systems differ in terms of production lines and procedures. Customized solutions for a factory’s needs are available from dairy equipment suppliers.
Transformation in Dairy Industry Manufacturing due to Automation
Food Safety
Human control is reduced by automation engineering, which eliminates the risk of human error throughout the manufacturing process. Moreover, as the number of food-borne illnesses rises, authorities are tightening the rules to ensure consistent product safety and quality. Therefore, during production, automation of processes such as controlled cleaning. Note that, it is from a central cleaning system prevents food product contamination from unwanted mixing of processed and unprocessed products, as well as accidental mixing of products with cleaning solutions.
Consistent Quality
Automated production cells can run for long periods of time with little variation, ensuring consistency in the products produced. Additionally, the dynamic optimization of these processes can aid in the standardization of all products leaving the facility. However, plant managers can fine-tune their production units with the help of controllers that follow predefined workflows.
Increased Production Capacity
Dairy plant automation has resulted in several robotic systems that work at a consistent rate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Note that, human labor is no longer a constraint. It is because, the instruments have a high up-time efficiency of around 90%. Therefore, the new production processes can be installed without disrupting ongoing operations can help boost capacity throughout the plants.
Better Production Control
Dairy farms and plants can gain precise control over their manufacturing processes with integrated systems like the Manufacturing Execution System. The information management systems generate automated reports for production data, resulting in increased efficiency and improved operations.
Traceability
The use of automation in dairy processing plant management allows for more efficient product tracking. You can create an inventory tracking system that begins with the receipt of raw materials and continues through the manufacturing process to batch track the finished goods. It makes tracing and investigating defective products that may end up on store shelves much easier.
Automation in the dairy industry’s manufacturing processes can assist companies in implementing effective practices to improve production control and capacity. It can also help to reduce the number of mistakes on the production floor and improve consistency.
