Humana and Nordmilch invest €42 million in extension of an existing whey treatment plant.
The new plant will be one of the largest plants in the world for the manufacture of innovative high added-value whey products.
Mopro Nord is a joint whey products project established by Humana GmbH and Nordmilch eG, Germany’s two largest dairy companies. United by a commitment to innovation and close collaboration with customers, Humana and Nordmilch joined forces to establish a new dried whey product plant as an extension of an existing plant in Altentreptow in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the northeast corner of Germany.
“We chose APV and Anhydro as they have made an invaluable contribution is helping us to develop and define the scope of the new activity,” says Roelof Weerts, general manager of Mopro Nord.
Complete Production Line
Together with Anhydro, APV is to supply, install and commission the total wet processing lines and an advanced control system. The new order follows an award last year to Anhydro for the upgrade of the existing whey treatment plant in Altentreptow, including a major whey treatment evaporation line, and the upgrade of existing equipment for the production of whey powder.
Anhydro’s scope of supply in connection with the new order encompasses improvements to existing evaporators and dryers, a complete lactose powder production line, silos and a lactose milling plant. In addition, Anhydro is to supply a complete new line for the evaporation and drying of innovative whey products.
Demanding Markets
“Globalisation and internationalisation of markets mean that we must provide ever higher quality on increasingly competitive terms,” says Roelof Weerts. “New customised products with exceptional quality and cost control, reliability and flexibility are key issues.”
“Whey is a significant by-product of cheese production. In fact, the volume of whey produced is almost equal to the amount of milk used in the manufacture of cheese. Unlike many by-products, however, whey or its component parts can be used in many different food industry applications, either in powder or liquid form. Our aim with the new plant is to produce innovative, value-added whey products that can help our customers to address new needs and markets.”
Powder and liquid production at the new plant will be based on daily deliveries of many thousands of tons of whey, both from Humana’s and Nordmilch’s own cheese factories as well as from others.
Next Generation Technology
The new plant in Altentreptow is fully automated using a new Production Server from APV based on Siemens S7 and WinCC. The new control system assures Mopro Nord significantly higher quality, plant availability and traceability with historical data monitoring, enabling the staff to identify regular issues and deal with them, thus optimizing scheduling and reducing downtime.
“Obviously the new plant had to comply with international food processing industry standards and regulations concerning safety, hygiene, , product traceability, preventive maintenance, utility consumption and waste water load. But our ambition was to take whey processing to a higher level. That meant we needed a world-class supplier of advanced processing equipment and control systems,” Roelof Weerts explains.
Collaboration and Partnership Gets Results
The choice of APV and Anhydro was partly based on an impressive track record, and partly on their customer-centric approach to doing business.
“What was particularly impressive during the project planning phase was their focus on and attention to highly detailed aspects of our needs, together with an open and straightforward approach to our collaboration. This resulted in solutions that always met and in many cases exceeded our expectations.” Roelof Weerts explains.
The first commissioning phase will take place in November 2005 and the final project is scheduled for full operation in April 2006.