When New Zealand cheese company, Dairyworks, contacted Process Partners to install a new line, the food engineering firm offered another idea that would drive greater productivity, efficiency, and savings. Kim Berry speaks to Process Partners program manager – Food Manufacturing & Packaging, Craig Gilbert.
In New Zealand, Dairyworks supplies 70 per cent of the cheese market with its range of sliced, block, shredded, cubed, and stick products.
The company approached Process Partners looking to replace its shred line in a bid to reduce waste, manual handling, and improve efficiencies.
The two had previously worked together and that relationship meant when the Process Partners team offered up a solution that relocated the line rather than replace it, Dairyworks listened.
“It is a huge lot of work and money to relocate within a factory, but the efficiency and cost savings can be much bigger than if you just replace a line. Ultimately the project became the relocation and redesign of the shred and cube lines with a budget of around NZ$2.4 million,” Partners program manager – Food Manufacturing & Packaging, Craig Gilbert says.
From the outset, Process Partners undertook initial concept design, then detailed design, finalised vendors, assisted with procurement, managed budgets, managed the site installation and its commissioning.
It was also a chance to use its digitised asset and project management system, allowing it to structure, track, and manage the site digitally.
“This really streamlined the installation and contractor management processes. It removes spreadsheets and paper manuals and instead uses an online platform accessed by a single QR code,” says Gilbert.
Initial review
Cheese blocks and offcuts from other lines destined for the shred line would be stored in plastic bags before processing. The manual handling and foreign matter risks were a major driver for change.
For Gilbert and the Process Partners team – project manager Raman Bagga and Zac Whitehead who provided site support and 3D layouts – using those 3D images greatly helped Dairyworks understand and visualise the proposal.
“This project is a great example of how we work with clients to understand they can upgrade little things to maximise results, rather than spending large amounts of money that may not deliver as many benefits,” Gilbert says.
The relocate
The line relocation found efficiency improvements almost immediately, doubling throughput from two to four tonnes per house, in part because the move revealed an easily fixed issue with the cutting machine.
Bins with a tipping system similar to that used in meat processing replaced the bagging process for offcuts.
It meant better operator ergonomics by removing most of the manual handling and drastically reduced Dairyworks’ reliance on plastic bags.
“Every year, Dairyworks was spending around $65,000 on plastic bags.
“While that is a major saving, when you think about how much less plastic is going into landfill, the benefits are much more far reaching.”
The line move also increased floor space, allowing for future growth, and created more centralised work spaces.
Unexpected benefits
Because of the shred line relocation, the cheese stick line also had to be moved.
“The stick line move allowed us to use a better design and reuse different equipment for a small amount of money. It increased throughput by 200 per cent and reduced the number of shifts needed from three to two,” he says.
Similarly, with the cube line, the cheese goes into a holac, is cut into cubes, then powdered, into the multi-head weigher and finally bagged.
Gilbert said there were issues around powder waste, but instead of a new $100,000-$200,000 machine from Europe, the team spent $10,000 to modify the existing machine with the same result.
Equipment
While most equipment was existing, new products were sourced locally or imported.
A new check-weighing system was imported from Japan and the cubing machine from the Netherlands. A local company, Concept Solutions, built new conveyors and MHM Solutions manufactured the new platform. All told, 24 different suppliers worked on the project.
There was also the added complexity of ensuring everything adhered to earthquake standards.
For Gilbert and the Process Partners team it has been a successful and satisfying project, while for Dairyworks, the results more than exceed its expectations. 
This story first appeared in the February/March edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.
