Case Histories
Finnish Cheese Producer Milka Boosts Packaging Line Output with New Cryovac® Systems
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Milka dairy began production in 1935 as a subsidiary of an umbrella cooperative.
The cooperative and its member dairies merged in 1994 to form one company
named Milka. Today Milka is a producer-owned company operating in several
locations on Finland's west and south coasts. Most of the milk comes from
local producers. Milk and other dairy products are produced and marketed
under the slogan "Pure Finnish Products". Milka had a nationwide
marketing network for various kinds of cheese, butter, milk, sourmilk
and cream.
Raw Material of Extremely High Quality
Effective cooperation with the producers guarantees the extremely high quality of Milka's raw material, the Finnish milk. The company processes the milk, taking tradition, quality and the environment into account. This approach results in dairy products enjoying great success amongst consumers.
With 135 employees, Milka's turnover in 2000 reached € 57 million.
The company exports more than 10% of its production abroad, mainly to
Sweden. It operates four production centers or dairies, plus one in cooperation
with another dairy producer.
The Milka dairy in Vörå, on the western coast of Finland,
was built in 1966 and started producing butter. Today production includes
various kinds of cheese, including Edam, Revontuli and Laihis. Well aware
of the advantages of vacuum packaging and curing in the bag, Milka acquired
a CRYOVAC® shrink packaging line back in
1985, to pack cheese products into CRYOVAC® shrink bags. The production
volume amounted then to 2'500 tons of cheese products. Today production
has more than doubled to a total of 5'600 tons, making productivity and
output more important than ever.
One of the Most Modern Dairies in Europe
After a more recent investment of € 3.4 million, the dairy has now
become one of the most modern in Europe. The prime objective of the investment
was to adapt the dairy's production to the demanding requirements of the
new millennium, namely responding to modern consumers' growing demand
for high quality products and packaging. The investment included two additional
CRYOVAC packaging lines, a salting system as well as a computer-controlled
monitoring system.
The Cryovac packaging lines installed consist in three CRYOVAC® BL70
bag loaders, two CRYOVAC® VR8600-14DC vacuum packaging machines and
a CRYOVAC® ST98 shrink tunnel. Thanks to these lines, which have been
running to full satisfaction, Milka began producing cheese packs of the
exact same weight and price. This approach is requested by more and more
retailers in Europe.
According to Sten-Olof Kackur, Plant Manager of the Milka dairy in Vörå,
the Cryovac packaging technology is of critical importance to satisfy
consumers' high expectations in terms of quality. Milka is one of the
first dairies to have stopped using mould-preventing agents, thanks to
vacuum shrink packaging technology. "We have proved that it is possible
to avoid using mould-preventing agents, and we are convinced that vacuum
packaging is of utmost importance for cheese products", comments
Mr. Kackur, adding: "Now the Swedes would like to follow our example!
And it really has been hard work to be the pioneers in this technology!"
New System Generates Unprecedented Productivity and Speed
Satisfied with the existing packaging lines, Milka was nonetheless very
enthusiastic when Cryovac recently suggested that they test an extremely
innovative system that promised to further increase output and flexibility
of the existing lines. The new CRYOVAC® OSB3550 shrink bag, together
with the new CRYOVAC OSB® Rotary System, could be easily added to
the existing configuration, significantly increasing rationalisation and
automation.
Cryovac's OSB3550 bag is highly resistant to tear, abrasion and puncture.
Its 50-micron thickness means reduced packaging material and environmental
taxes, as well as longer production runs with less machine downtime. Its
sealability through pleats, overlap and contamination brings improved
productivity and/or reduced leaker rates.
 Cryovac's
OSB® rotary system is a fully
automatic, high speed loading line. There is no need for an operator to
flatten the bag necks or to correctly position the products at the rotary
machine platen level. The system automatically feeds products on the rotary
machine and brings unprecedented productivity, labour cost reduction and
flexibility.
Milka seized this opportunity to run a twin loading line with this new
system for industrial units of Edam cheese - chunks of 1.3 kg each. The
new system allowed the automatic packaging of two products per chamber
without the need for an operator.
Impressive Results with 85-90% Increased Output
The project went remarkably well, with Cryovac specialists fully cooperating
with the Milka staff to install the necessary devices and fine-tune the
operations. The results were immediately impressive: the line output increased
by 85-90%, the in-feed into the VR8600-14 is operator free and the overall
seal integrity is significantly improved. In addition, Milka is now able
to significantly reduce the cost per pack. Altogether, the dairy's two
lines handle an impressive capacity of both consumer and industrial units,
yielding an output of 35 and 70 products per minute, the highest in Europe
today.
With such unprecedented benefits, Milka immediately placed an order for
one million CRYOVAC® OSB3550
bags, for an application which had until then been supplied by one of
Cryovac's competitors. "There is no doubt in my mind that we made
the right choice, right from the beginning but also just recently, by
opting for Cryovac's high performance technology. We are reaping the benefits
of this technology right now, and our consumers are all the more grateful",
concludes happily Sten-Olof Kackur.
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