Process engineering and automation expertise helps build largest butter making process plant

Phil Black - PII Editor 10/04/2014

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GEA Process Engineering Ltd (GPUK) in Warrington has supplied process engineering and automation expertise and equipment to the Müller UK & Ireland Group to develop a complete butter-making process line at its new £17m plant in Market Drayton, Shropshire.

The state of the art butter plant, the largest of its kind in the UK, is capable of producing up to 45,000 tonnes of British butter each year made with cream from Red Tractor Farm Assured milk. It offers the means by which the Müller UK & Ireland Group can better optimise returns for the 90,000 tonnes of surplus cream from the milk supplied annually by dairy farmers to make its fresh milk, cream, yogurt and chilled desserts products.

GPUK was selected as the company’s process engineering partner because of its leading process technology and equipment, extensive industry knowledge and previous track record with Müller in both the UK and Germany. “We were delighted to work with Müller on this project,” said Martin Jackson, Director of Sales for GPUK. “It gave us the opportunity to use our process engineering and automation expertise to bring together technologies from throughout the GEA Group including: butter-making, evaporation, refrigeration, valves, pumps and heat exchangers. This allowed us to develop the complete line from cream reception to finished butter.”

The project was completed from contract award to first product in just 9 months. “It was a fast-track project that was made possible because of the experience of our engineers and the natural synergies of the GEA equipment,” said Martin. “We also had to fit the plant into an existing building, which was very tight, so it gave the designers something to think about!” The strong teamwork approach was greatly appreciated by the Müller team and very much contributed to the project’s success.

Speaking at the formal opening of the £17 million state of the art plant at Müller Dairy in Market Drayton Herr Müller said that his company was making substantial progress in the UK and Ireland. He pointed to recent investments by the Müller Group in acquiring fresh milk processor Müller Wiseman Dairies, a chilled desserts facility in Minsterley and Nom Dairy UK’s yogurt manufacturing facility in Telford, as evidence of his company’s ambitions.

And he revealed that his company will extend the range of products made at the butter plant, which will initially manufacture 25kg and 10kg blocks of salted, unsalted and lactic butter for the food manufacturing and food ingredient industries.

Interest from customers has been such that the company is accelerating plans to install a packet butter operation so that it can also offer 250 gram products to the retail and food service sectors from early summer 2014.