in Chobani’s new plant When building its new $30 million plant, yoghurt maker Chobani wanted to partner with automation and electrical experts who could respond to a production process based on a ‘through process’ as opposed to a ‘batching process’.
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hobani is a fast-growing, dynamic yoghurt company that was founded in the United States, with the belief that people have great taste but need great options. With a mission to make high-quality, great-tasting yoghurt available to more people, Chobani decided to spread its wings to Australia. Since purchasing a local Victorian dairy company in 2011, Chobani has also invested in a new greenfield facility to manufacture its yoghurt locally alongside the existing manufacturing plant. With a strong focus on automation, Chobani called on Metromotion Controls, a systems integrator specialising in control and automation systems, to facilitate the design, management and implementation of the new $30 million facility. In addition to the new manufacturing plant, Metromotion was also commissioned to implement Chobani standards to automate the existing site. The task at hand was to use the latest technologies from Rockwell Automation to automate both new and existing processes at the plants.
Yoghurt production made easy With increasing demand for Chobani yoghurt around the world, meeting global supply agreements was a key priority for the company, as failure to do so would result in significant penalties being enforced. As such, Metromotion Controls was required to meet strict project timelines so the plant could be up and running quickly and effectively. Chobani has a strong focus on automation and at the time of building the factory required ‘on the ground’ automation and electrical resources from Metromotion Controls. This work involved facilitating the site power upgrade; building services and process power distribution; factory-wide automation integration, including process, packaging and site services; and commissioning and ongoing support both on-site and remotely. Metromotion Controls has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Rockwell Automation and NHP Electrical Engineering Products (NHP) and had no hesitation in calling on them to provide the control and automation technologies required at the plant.
www.foodprocessing.com.au
November/December 2017
31
BULK HANDLING, STORAGE & LOGISTICS PROCESSING
Automating yoghurt production