Science & Technology - Arla visits
ASTON CLINTON U3A SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TRIPS TO ARLA DAIRY
1st MAY 2014, 4th MARCH 2015 and 10th MARCH 2015.
This report relates mainly to the first visit - the following visits were given similar tours.
After many phone calls, emails, postponements and a fire alarm when we arrived we finally got our first visit to the largest liquid milk bottling plant in the World. Standing at the fire assembly point and getting steadily wetter in the falling rain for about 15 minutes we began to wonder if it was such a good idea. The bells eventually signalled the all clear so the 40 strong party was ushered into the reception area from where we set off on our tour of a high tech and forward looking food production factory.
Nick Parsons (the Arla Farms Contract Manager) gave us a short talk about the relationship between the farmers, the supermarkets and Arla. The company is run as a co-operative that gives the supplying farmers the opportunity to become part owners. The Aston Clinton dairy processes liquid milk for the retail market. On other sites the company uses surplus milk to make products such as cheese and butter, giving a smoothing effect to the price of milk at the farm gate. These other products have their own brand names such as Anchor Butter.
The tour of the dairy was along a 150m corridor built through the plant. This is lined with informative facts about the production of milk and its distribution. Did you know that cows can pick up a smell from up to 6 miles? Also along the corridor are windows down to the various departments.
The milk is delivered by tanker at the A41 end of the dairy and gravity fed into the silos which tower over the site. Here the milk is tested before going into the pasteurisation and fat separation unit (not on view). The various grades of milk are remixed and then sent to the bottling area. Plastic bottles are blow moulded on site which can be seen from the viewing corridor. Continuous lines of the formed bottles are conveyed under the corridor into the filling area. Again this can be watched from a viewing window. The filled bottles can be observed moving through the labelling unit to the point where they are stacked on the tetras (tiered trolleys) that we are familiar with in our supermarkets.
The final observation area is above the despatch area where many robotic forklift trucks run about gathering tetras for loading onto the large artic lorries for delivery to the supermarkets. This area (1.5 times the size of a football pitch) is a hive of activity with little sign of human personnel. The robots are programmed to find their way around, using GPS, locating skimmed, semi skimmed and full fat milk for each specific supermarket customer, and gathering them at despatch points. Working on the GPS system they have sensors so that they avoid each other and any stray human that gets in the way. When they are not required they automatically take themselves to the recharging units around the area. MacDonalds have a separate organic line which delivers cartons, shrink wrapped and on pallets.
From the end of the corridor we could see the Energy Centre which uses waste milk etc to generate biogas and electricity to run the plant. Currently the plant is generating 89% of its energy and is working to lower the remaining 11% so that eventually they expect to be exporting electricity to the National Grid with a zero carbon footprint.
Throughout the process there are many checks and tests for quality and contaminants conducted by the laboratory technicians. Engineers are always on standby to keep the lines running. Temperatures are accurately controlled with production set at 6⁰C and despatch at 4⁰C.
The corridor is decorated in Arla colours and is mainly aimed at young children who will visit the site under an educational scheme in partnership with Tesco. Overall the site has been landscaped and ‘greened’ with lawns, trees and shrubs and a large ‘balancing’ pond. With maturity the building will become mellow and more assimilated into its surroundings. Transport is also getting a green over. They try to collect raw milk and deliver packed milk by the same lorry to cut down the miles travelled and they are using hybrid lories.
There has been much written about the unsuitability of the site and that perhaps live cows grazing would be more attractive, however, the building is there and Arla are making huge efforts to engage with the community and to be absorbed into the landscape. Their recruitment policy is diected at a radius of 20 miles where possible
A number of U3A members with negative views came away with a more favourable opinion of Arla.
This report relates mainly to the first visit - the following visits were given similar tours.
After many phone calls, emails, postponements and a fire alarm when we arrived we finally got our first visit to the largest liquid milk bottling plant in the World. Standing at the fire assembly point and getting steadily wetter in the falling rain for about 15 minutes we began to wonder if it was such a good idea. The bells eventually signalled the all clear so the 40 strong party was ushered into the reception area from where we set off on our tour of a high tech and forward looking food production factory.
Nick Parsons (the Arla Farms Contract Manager) gave us a short talk about the relationship between the farmers, the supermarkets and Arla. The company is run as a co-operative that gives the supplying farmers the opportunity to become part owners. The Aston Clinton dairy processes liquid milk for the retail market. On other sites the company uses surplus milk to make products such as cheese and butter, giving a smoothing effect to the price of milk at the farm gate. These other products have their own brand names such as Anchor Butter.
The tour of the dairy was along a 150m corridor built through the plant. This is lined with informative facts about the production of milk and its distribution. Did you know that cows can pick up a smell from up to 6 miles? Also along the corridor are windows down to the various departments.
The milk is delivered by tanker at the A41 end of the dairy and gravity fed into the silos which tower over the site. Here the milk is tested before going into the pasteurisation and fat separation unit (not on view). The various grades of milk are remixed and then sent to the bottling area. Plastic bottles are blow moulded on site which can be seen from the viewing corridor. Continuous lines of the formed bottles are conveyed under the corridor into the filling area. Again this can be watched from a viewing window. The filled bottles can be observed moving through the labelling unit to the point where they are stacked on the tetras (tiered trolleys) that we are familiar with in our supermarkets.
The final observation area is above the despatch area where many robotic forklift trucks run about gathering tetras for loading onto the large artic lorries for delivery to the supermarkets. This area (1.5 times the size of a football pitch) is a hive of activity with little sign of human personnel. The robots are programmed to find their way around, using GPS, locating skimmed, semi skimmed and full fat milk for each specific supermarket customer, and gathering them at despatch points. Working on the GPS system they have sensors so that they avoid each other and any stray human that gets in the way. When they are not required they automatically take themselves to the recharging units around the area. MacDonalds have a separate organic line which delivers cartons, shrink wrapped and on pallets.
From the end of the corridor we could see the Energy Centre which uses waste milk etc to generate biogas and electricity to run the plant. Currently the plant is generating 89% of its energy and is working to lower the remaining 11% so that eventually they expect to be exporting electricity to the National Grid with a zero carbon footprint.
Throughout the process there are many checks and tests for quality and contaminants conducted by the laboratory technicians. Engineers are always on standby to keep the lines running. Temperatures are accurately controlled with production set at 6⁰C and despatch at 4⁰C.
The corridor is decorated in Arla colours and is mainly aimed at young children who will visit the site under an educational scheme in partnership with Tesco. Overall the site has been landscaped and ‘greened’ with lawns, trees and shrubs and a large ‘balancing’ pond. With maturity the building will become mellow and more assimilated into its surroundings. Transport is also getting a green over. They try to collect raw milk and deliver packed milk by the same lorry to cut down the miles travelled and they are using hybrid lories.
There has been much written about the unsuitability of the site and that perhaps live cows grazing would be more attractive, however, the building is there and Arla are making huge efforts to engage with the community and to be absorbed into the landscape. Their recruitment policy is diected at a radius of 20 miles where possible
A number of U3A members with negative views came away with a more favourable opinion of Arla.