July 15, 2006

AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST DAIRY CO OP CHOOSES BÜRKERT RELIABILITY

The Murray Goulburn Co Operative is one of the few dairy manufacturers in Australia with national distribution.  The Co Op is supplied by more than 3,000 farms in New South Wales and Victoria and produces a range of butter, milk and cheese products under the market-leading Devondale brand.

The Co Op's eight processing plants produce more than 35% of national milk consumption, and 45% of Australia's total dairy exports.  The first of Murray Goulburn's facilities, located at Cobram in northern Victoria, operates twenty-four hours a day to produce cheeses, whey products, lactose, milk and cream. 

Demanding conditions found within the dairy industry necessitate powerful cleaning and sterilisation; needs which are met at Cobram by a comprehensive CIP (cleaning in place) system utilising steam under pressure and caustic solution treatments, along with water wash-downs.

Mr Heath Crawford, Maintenance Planner supervising the Cobram facility, said that a major problem faced at the plant was that the valves used across most systems were not sufficiently robust to handle the demands of the aggressive CIP system, which cycles through continuously 24 hours a day.

"After ongoing issues with existing CIP valving we replaced the troublesome products with Bürkert's 2000 series Angle Seat models," said Mr Crawford.

"That was 8 years ago now, and since that time the valves have operated faultlessly.  It was soon after that installation that we made the decision to move to Bürkert wherever our specialised site technologies would allow," he said.

The performance of the 2000 series Angle Seat Valves at the Cobram plant made local Bürkert Area Sales Manager David Mennie the first call for a recent emergency replacement of a failed 100mm isolation ball valve on the steam line.

The old valve had necessitated frequent servicing and maintenance, causing unplanned downtime and reduced system productivity at the plant.

The Type 2012 100mm flanged Globe Valve was despatched by Bürkert for next-day delivery to Cobram, and successfully installed.  The Murray Goulburn Co Op has since ordered two more of the large Globe Valves for other processes at the site, in order to enhance efficiency and service availability site-wide.

"The Bürkert Globe Valves arrived promptly and have functioned without issue since installation," said Mr Crawford.

"The units cost little more than the other valves we were using, but the savings in terms of eliminated maintenance needs and trouble-free operation have more than offset that cost already."

Mr Mennie said that although valves may be advertised as comparable, it is worth taking the time to compare the valve body and diaphragm materials as well as the quality level to which the valve is manufactured. 

"Bürkert valves are German engineered and wholly manufactured in our European factories.  You will find these days that some companies are buying coils from one manufacturer, and diaphragms from another, and then just assembling the pieces - it is hardly surprising that pieces often don't quite fit.  And then there are problems," he said.

Mr Mennie said that the issues faced by the Murray Goulburn plant - which operates within a stringent OHS charter - mirror those of many Australian manufacturers.

The integrated nature of manufacturing plants in Australia means that it is the least-reliable system component that establishes reliability and uptime levels for the whole site.  When one system fails, it generally impacts throughout operations.

The Cobram facility had experienced issues of fundamental unreliability, with the site's old valves typically experiencing degradation of the o-ring due to heat, caustic and wear within a few months of installation, requiring ongoing maintenance, and complete replacement annually.

Related costs included, for example, the replacement of expensive rubbers and drive plates which were cooked by steam escaping under pressure from the old valves.

Of additional concern to Cobram management was the potential for serious workplace injury from escaping caustic or steam sprays, with some minor incidents involving caustic spray splashes onto employees experienced.

"Getting the best equipment on-site at Cobram has given us enhanced service levels across the board, as well as increasing the degree of safety with which we operate," said Mr Crawford.

"Bürkert's valves have proved to be highly reliable even within the hostile CIP and steam line systems and we will continue to phase in Bürkert valves wherever possible."