Huge project win for GEA Process Engineering down-under

Feb. 27, 2012 - PRLog -- Right now it is just a closed sawmill outside the Tasmanian town of Smithton, Australia. But only seven months from now, Tasmanian Dairy Products Co Ltd will start a production of dried milk products in a brand new facility on the very same spot. The plant will be able to produce more than 6,000 kilos of milk powder per hour thanks to Danish technology and know-how.

GEA Process Engineering will supply the equipment for the milk powder factory. Negotiations on delivery of the equipment have been underway for more than six months, but were successfully concluded early this year.

“To build and deliver a turnkey factory for milk powder production is one of the specialities of GEA Process Engineering. A major part of our milk drying technology is Danish, and it is in high demand right now in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand,” says Managing Director Kim Henriksen, GEA Process Engineering, Australia.

“There is a strong focus on quality and security around the production of powdered milk, and that was one of the primary considerations for selecting GEA Process Engineering to be our supplier for this plant. With their track record, ability to deliver complete plants such as ours on time and with assurance of quality, as well as their state of the art technology, they were simply the best supplier,” says Gregg Pollack, Director of the Board at Tasmanian Dairy Products Co Ltd.

China demands safety and quality
The facility in Tasmania is designed for the production of milk powder for export, and Tasmanian Dairy Products Co Ltd is already experiencing great demand for milk powder from Asia and the Middle East. The quality of milk and the safety in the production method are particularly important to the Asian buyers.

“It is still not so long ago that they had a huge scandal in China with milk powder that made children mortally ill. Such scandals increase focus on the quality of the raw milk and the monitoring of the milk powder production. This increases the demand for products from Australia and New Zealand where they have traditions for good dairy products. In the end, GEA benefits from this demand since we can quickly supply safe facilities in a high growth market,” explains Kim Henriksen.

Several highly specialised engineers from GEA Process Engineering will be working closely with Tasmanian Dairy Products Co Ltd over the next months in order to finish the project on time. Overall price for the whole facility for Tasmanian Dairy Products Co Ltd will be about EUR 60 million, and once it is ready for operation, the plant will provide fulltime jobs for about 65 local employees.

Facts:
•   The milk powder facility has been ordered by Tasmanian Dairy Products Co Ltd ;
•   Total price for the facility will be about EUR 60 million;
•   Total price for the order to GEA Process Engineering will be about EUR 33 million;
•   All production from the plant will be for export;
•   The facility will produce 6,000 kilos of milk powder per hour for 21½ hours per day;  
•   The facility will produce 33,000 tons of milk powder annually and use about 250 million litres of milk in the process;
•   More than 150 people will build the plant, and 65 fulltime employees will operate it once it has been completed.