Dairygold Food Ingredients “Milk the Benefits” by Choosing Riteweigh
Customer Statement:
Dairygolds Site Manager Billy Cronin says:
“Riteweigh has provided us with a cost effective automated weighbridge system that ensures the quality of milk delivered to our customers is the absolute best it can be. The SoloWeigh kiosk has revolutionised the way we operate our bulk milk intake bays and this in turn has greatly increased quality control and provides up to the minute business process accountability. We are now able to maintain the highest quality standards and in addition, product traceability is now guaranteed with the installation of the Soloweigh kiosk”.
Business Background
Dairygold Food Ingredients Ltd (DFI) is Ireland’s second largest milk producer, processing over 920 million litres annually into top quality dairy products. DFI are world leaders in the manufacture of Infant Milk Formula (IMF) grade milk powders and specialist cheeses for their customers such as Danone and Jarlsberg. It is absolutely essential for their business that only the highest quality milk is used in these critical manufacturing processes. Danone Baby Nutrition (DBN) is currently investing €50 million at its Macroom facility to treble the production of IMF to 100,000T. In doing so, DBN chose DFI to exclusively supply both their skimmed milk and demineralised whey requirements. This has been DBN’s biggest investment in its IMF production facilities to date and it is hoped the new plant will be operational by mid-2012.
Business Requirements
DFI recognised that by linking and integrating weighbridge operations with their milk intake bays they could achieve a high level of real time control over the quality of milk arriving at their processing plants. This in turn enables them to pre-select milk from certain farms to be routed and discharged into specific intake silos for the manufacture of premium products. In addition it also enables them to reject and ensure that any loads which do not pass strict antibiotic tests are locked out from discharging.
Solution Provided
Riteweigh Ltd installed a SoloWeigh driver operated kiosk at the bulk intake weighbridge and linked this to a milk intake control system at each of their eight discharge bays. Milk loads collected from farms by tankers which operate on selected fixed routes are sampled on arrival for the presence of antibiotics and the results of laboratory tests indicate the quality of the milk. These results are recorded and an administrator maintains a database table within the system of the best quality routes.
On arrival at the factory weighbridge, the truck driver presents their unique key fob to the reader at the Soloweigh kiosk. The driver is then identified and presents a bar-coded milk sample bottle which identifies the source and route number of delivered milk. The SoloWeigh kiosk system validates the driver and load details and instructs the driver to perform an antibiotic test. The result of the antibiotic test is transferred into the weighbridge system and if the milk sample passes the test, the weighbridge system interrogates the central database table to determine which intake bay to route the load to. The driver is then instructed to proceed to the appropriate intake bay. The system automatically updates a central oracle system with the details of the incoming load and milk quality test results.
When the bulk tanker arrives at the intake bay, the driver is identified using the same key fob at the pump control reader and the SoloWeigh system verifies that he has weighed in and is at the correct intake bay. The intake pumps are interlocked by the Soloweigh system as they cannot be started without a cross check discharge signal from the weighbridge system. Once confirmed the approved load is discharged. The driver returns to the weighbridge, weighs out the empty tanker and is issued with a hardcopy printout containing all weighing details. These details are also recorded in a local transaction record which in turn updates the central oracle database.
The system performs a multitude of cross checks during the weighing process to ensure the process is completed within the expected timeframes and loading sequence. In addition to providing this real time control over incoming milk, the system also manages transactions for all incoming materials and outgoing finished goods. Dairygold management personnel can remotely monitor each stage of the weighing process and have full access to total weighbridge tonnage and a comprehensive suite of management reports.