Arla Foods' Stourton creamery has introduced state-of-the-art pipe cleaning technology, which helps reduce product waste and saves water, following a successful trial.
The technology, which shoots a flexible, serrated piece of plastic down the pipes to remove excess product, means that the company can retrieve product that would previously have been washed out of the pipes and wasted during cleaning.
Karina Mikkelsen, head of process development at Arla, said: “We have the potential to reduce cleaning times as the pipes haven’t got any product residue in them after the process has taken place, and therefore we can reduce the number of flushes because of this, which is very much in line with our Closer to Nature ambition and our environmental strategy to reduce water usage.”
This innovative technology recovered far more product than expected during initial trials and is now used permanently on cottage cheese and custard production lines at the site.
Following the implementation of the technology on two lines, it has been hailed a triumph and has exceeded expectations. Arla is now looking to use the innovative system on additional product lines in 2012.