A process control system with specialized modules for dairy production has allowed an Austrian dairy producer to improve the efficiency of its plants and increase production output as well as diversify its product diversity.
Located in the city of Salzburg, SalzburgMilch GmbH was founded in 2013 and emerged from fusion of Alpenmilch Salzburg and Käsehof. The company employs 289 people and processed 214 million kilograms of milk in 2012, 119 million kilograms of which came from special varieties of milk (organic milk, silo-free milk ("hay milk") and organic hay milk) that need to be processed without being mixed. The range of products comprises roughly 600 different milks, cheeses and flavored products including organic and long-life products. Salzburg’s biggest dairy operation exports around 119 million kilos of processed organic milk to countries including Germany.
By using the Simatic process control system PCS 7 from the Siemens Industry Sector in its production, alongside software modules developed specifically for dairy operations, SalzburgMilch has succeeded in improving the efficiency of its plants and increasing both its production output and the diversity of its product mix.
The wide range of products and the high speed at which the products have to be processed call for precise production control. That is where the Simatic PCS 7 process control system from Siemens comes into its own as a higher-level automation solution. The most important production steps in milk processing are already integrated into the process control system.
Alongside milk pasteurization, which takes place in 28 tanks with a volume of around 560,000 liters, other integrated processes include sour milk production using 30 tanks with a volume of around 400,000 liters and sterile production with four tanks and around 70,000 liters.
Process control system PCS 7 Simatic PCS 7 also controls the two fruit mixing systems, which each have an hourly output of around 5,000 liters, milk reception for six raw milk varieties (eight tanks with a volume of just under 500,000 liters) and the ice water preparation and well water system. Recently, new storage tanks, filling systems and external installations as well as additional sections of the dairy such as whey concentration, a new high-bay warehouse, the palletizing system, concentrate storage and the CIP (Cleaning-in-Place) system with seven cleaning circuits were also integrated into the process control system.
Integrating all the plant data into the Simatic PCS 7 process control system has meant more efficient plant operation, lower repair costs and a more flexible work process. Both the production volume and diversity of the product mix have been continuously increased. Another benefit is a permanent on-site support presence at SalzburgMilch, which ensures fast response times and simplifies any required reorganization processes during ongoing operation.
Siemens is currently working on a precision concept for SalzburgMilch which will make for more efficient energy consumption and is aimed at reducing the time spent on the logging and updating of maintenance data. «
Process control system
Process control system
