
EFFECTIVE UPGRADE
Multivac helps major cooperative improve its plant packaging system, significantly reducing costs.
Dairy Farmers of America Inc. (DFA) is one of the country’s most diversified manufacturers of dairy products, food components and ingredients. Cooperatively owned and operated by more than 20,000 dairy farmer-members, DFA produced and marketed nearly 60 billion pounds of milk products last year.
The cooperative’s members have an interest in
the success of DFA and depend on the organization to creatively and
cost-effectively process their milk into a variety of marketable products.
To accomplish this, DFA recently added a Multivac thermoform fill-seal
rollstock system to its Turlock, Calif., facility.
DFA’s Turlock facility produces and packages
mozzarella, provolone, condensed whey protein concentrate and cream for
numerous foodservice clients spanning the western United States. To package
its 6-pound blocks of mozzarella cheese, the cooperative was utilizing both
rollstock and vacuum chamber machines to account for variations in the
shapes of the blocks.
“When a cheese product has a high fat content,
the shape of the cheese tends to change during the cooling process,”
says Tom Baker, DFA’s Turlock production manager. “Our previous
rollstock machine could not always accommodate these size variations, so we
needed to package some cheese blocks on the vacuum chamber
machine.”
DFA began packaging mozzarella exclusively on the
vacuum chamber machine when its old rollstock system broke down beyond
repair. Operators now had to place the cheese blocks into preformed bags
for positioning on the machine to be vacuum sealed and trimmed. This method
was inefficient and labor intensive when compared to the thermoforming
process. The vacuum chamber machine also produced a relatively high number
of leakers, requiring rework and causing further inefficiencies.
Baker researched new thermoforming equipment and chose
a Multivac R240 based on recommendations for superior engineering and
package consistency. “A number of technical people I spoke with were
very impressed with Multivac machinery,” he says. “With our
needs, I had to have something extremely reliable and durable.”
Dealing with large cheese blocks, Baker also notes
that the loading area on the Multivac R240 is wide enough to accommodate
any shape changes that could occur during the cheese cooling process. This
was also key in his decision.
Using the R240, DFA has reduced packaging material
costs by 50 percent, as the machine economically utilizes flexible films to
produce customized pockets. The film used with the rollstock machine is
also less costly than the preformed bags required for vacuum chamber
packaging. Expediting the product loading process with the R240 has also
enabled DFA to maintain increased production speeds utilizing one less
person. This has lowered operating costs and increased the co-op’s
return on its packaging investment.
“While a dramatic improvement, DFA’s great
results in production output and package quality are not uncommon with our
rollstock equipment,” says Bob Koch, director of sales for
Multivac’s food division. “Numerous companies of all sizes have
leveraged our thermoforming technology to reduce their packaging material
costs and lower overhead expenses to help spur growth. We look forward to
working with DFA for many years to come.” — Multivac Inc., 11021 N.W. Pomona Ave., Kansas City, Mo.,
64153, phone: (816) 891-0555, fax: (816) 891-8958, Web site:
www.multivac.com
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