HILMAR CHEESE COMPANY
DALHART, TX Nicole Jax
Cheese Technical Intern
Supervisor: Harold Mlodzik
Summer 2015
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FUN FACT! I had my likeness sculpted into 90-lb
block of butter on Labor Day of
2013 at the MN State Fair!
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o Born and raised on a small, 25-head dairy farm in SE
Minnesota
o Previous internships include Quality Assurance at Kemps
LLC- Ice Cream Plant, and Operations at the newly
constructed Mini BabyBel facility in Brookings
o Majoring in Dairy Manufacturing with minors in Agriculture
Business and Food Safety at South Dakota State University
• Growing company
• Positive news in the headlines of many
dairy industry newsletters
• In early 2013, I toured the Hilmar site
and Visitor Center with the SDSU Dairy
Club and really liked it!
• Co-operative business model
that manufactures bulk
cheese -- something I haven’t
done before
• Location was away from
home -- an experience I
wanted to gain before
graduation in May
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My internship consisted of completing several small to
medium sized projects instead of one large project
1. Update Plant 5 and 6
Recipe books
2. Curd Pump Trials
3. Evaluate block weights on
Plant 6
4. HTST Flushes
5. Investigate pepper mill
timing
6. Flowmeter Comparison
7. Train in the boxer room
8. Tower 27 Evaluation
9. Evaluate leaker blocks to
determine cause
10. Slipped Liners
11.Wedge wire whey fats
12. Cheese Fines
OBJECTIVE
This objective of this project is to determine which pump, Sine, Fristam, or
Alfalaval has the best ability to reduce the fat content in the whey.
MEET THE PUMPS
• Sine [ MR160 ]
– Currently the pump being used in Plant 5 & 6
– Displaces 396 gal/minute @ max rpm
• Fristam [ FKL580]
– Displaces 728 gal/minute @ max rpm
• Alfalaval [ SRU8 ]
– Displaces 2,250 gal/minute @ max rpm
5
6
BENEFITS
• Cheese: This will allow more fat to be retained in the curd and will help
the curd level on the belt to be more consistent which will lead to more
consistent curd wash, salting, moisture, and pounds per hour filling towers
• Protein: This will minimize the fat globules that plug up the pores of the
membranes that make up the Reverse Osmosis system allowing the
equipment to function better for a longer duration, and creating a
higher quality protein
PUMP SPEEDS @ SAMPLING
• Day 1 & 2: Sine vs. Fristam
– Upon averaging Day 1 and 2 Trials, the FRISTAM pump showed on average
0.041 better whey fats than the sine pump, which is currently in use in Plant 5
and Plant 6
• Day 3 & 4: Fristam vs. Alfalaval
– Upon averaging Day 3 and 4 Trials, the FRISTAM pump showed on average
0.036 better whey fats than the sine pump, which is currently in use in Plant 5
and Plant 6
The FRISTAM pump had the greatest ability to reduce the fat content in
whey. The FRISTAM pump showed a total average of 0.039 better
whey fat than the Sine or Alfalaval pumps.
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OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project was to ensure the total solids
component of the milk upon start up (5-6%) and shutdown
(8.5-10%) are in alignment to the goals of Hilmar
Cheese Company.
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QUICK BACKGROUND INFO
• Depending on the plant, an average of 16-17%
solids were being target in the milk used in vat for
cheese production.
Date Type TS
6/12/2015 Open Valve 5.63
6/16/2015 Open Valve 5.17
6/19/2015 Open Valve 5.63
Plant 6 Shutdown Total
Solids ValuesDate Type TS
6/10/2015 Open Valve 5.75
6/11/2015 Open Valve 6.04
6/18/2015 Open Valve 6.39
Plant 5 Shutdown Total
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STARTUP
VALUES
FOR
PLANT 5
AND 6
Date Type TS
1000 gal 4.21
CV Begin
CV End
1000 gal 3.91
CV Begin
CV End
1000 gal 2.65
CV Begin 8.83
CV End 10.1
1000 gal 2.73
CV Begin 9.2
CV End 10.32
1000 gal 2.64
CV Begin 9.22
CV End 10.31
1000 gal 2.58
CV Begin 8.06
CV End 9.29
10.38
Plant 6 Start Up Total
Solids Values
6/22/2015
6/9/2015
6/10/2015
6/17/2015
6/18/2015
6/19/2015
10.59 Date Type TS
1000 gal 2.94
CV Begin
CV End
1000 gal XXX
CV Begin 8.65
CV End 10.43
1000 gal 6.75
CV Begin
CV End
1000 gal 2.62
CV Begin 7.28
CV End 8.95
Plant 5 Start Up Total
9.78
9.04
6/9/2015
6/11/2015
6/10/2015
6/18/2015
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• Objectives for both Plant
5 and 6 were met
• No adjustments were
necessary in Plant 5
• Plant 6 flush was
decreased by 700 lbs on
startup, and 200 lbs on
shutdown
• Solids on Plant 5 were as
follows:
– Start Up 8.12%
– Shutdown 6.39%
• Solids on Plant 6 were as
follows:
– Start Up 8.70%
– Shutdown 5.63%
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• Hilmar Employees are highly in favor of diamond
plating the rest of the towers on Plant 6
• In fact, they would like to see the whole deck
diamond plated.
• Diamond Plating Plant 6 towers will be Leaner,
will have fewer safety implications, and improve
the work conditions of Hilmar Cheese Company
Tower Operators, and anyone who is present on
the tower deck.
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OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project was to reduce the number
of consumer complaints for slipped liners on the 640#
blocks.
QUICK BACKGROUND INFO
• Currently getting 1 consumer complaint per 2-3
month period.
• Target is zero complaints.
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• My solution was to
improve the visibility of
the slipped liners.
• I came up with a
brightly colored and
contrasting label that be
seen from a distance.
• The coldbox will radio
back to the tower
operator with the MHU
# to tag for a PIN 17
• Unfortunately, because of the duration this trial I
will not be here to see the end of this trial through
• Hilmar Cheese Company should expect to see
definite results in early 2016.
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OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project was to determine if using the weir
on the Plant 6 Belt will reduce the number of cheese fines that
are produced in Plant 6.
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QUICK BACKGROUND INFO • Imhoff cones were used in this trial to determine
amount of cheese fines
– Use a liter of raw whey per cone, and then sits for
1 hour before reading level of fines
• Parameters
– “ON” parameters are 5 second dumps every 5
minutes.
– “OFF” parameters are 9,999 second dumps every
0 minutes.
RESULTS
Reduced cheese fines by
approximately 33% with
having the weir turned on
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7/30/2015 Cheddar
on/off Vat # StepSample
Name
Imhoff Cone
Reading (approx)
FT
Reading
Curd Xfer 1A 111 3.0 0.380
Curd Xfer 1B 112 3.0 0.369
Curd Xfer 2 113 1.5 0.335
Curd Xfer 1A 121 3.0 0.379
Curd Xfer 1B 122 3.0 0.372
Curd Xfer 2 123 2.0 0.332
Curd Xfer 1A 131 3.0 0.350
Curd Xfer 1B 132 3.0 0.355
Curd Xfer 2 133 2.0 0.321
Curd Xfer 1A 141 2.0 0.361
Curd Xfer 1B 142 2.0 0.370
Curd Xfer 2 143 1.5 0.330
Curd Xfer 1A 151 2.0 0.371
Curd Xfer 1B 152 2.0 0.356
Curd Xfer 2 153 1.5 0.338
Curd Xfer 1A 161 2.0 0.384
Curd Xfer 1B 162 2.0 0.382
Curd Xfer 2 163 1.5 0.337
On Off
2.0 3.0
2.0 3.0
1.5 1.83
On Off
0.372 0.370
0.369 0.365
0.335 0.329
Curd Xfer 1B
Curd Xfer 2
Production Date
on HCV 26/ Vat 06
on
off
off
Cheese Type
Step
Curd Xfer 1A
IMHOFF TRIAL
Imhoff Results
Averages
Averages
FT Results
Step
Curd Xfer 1A
Curd Xfer 1B
Curd Xfer 2
HCV 27/ Vat 07
on HCV 28/ Vat 08
HCV 22/ Vat 02
HCV 23 / Vat 03
HCV 24/ Vat 04
off
RESULTS
Reduced cheese fines by
approximately 33% with
having the weir turned on
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7/31/2015 Colby Jack
on/off Vat # StepSample
Name
Imhoff Cone
Reading (approx)FT Reading
Curd Xfer 1A 211 2.0 0.358
Curd Xfer 1B 212 1.5 0.331
Curd Xfer 2 213 1.0 0.319
Curd Xfer 1A 221 2.0 0.362
Curd Xfer 1B 222 1.5 0.329
Curd Xfer 2 223 1.0 0.307
Curd Xfer 1A 231 3.0 0.354
Curd Xfer 1B 232 2.0 0.326
Curd Xfer 2 233 1.5 0.309
Curd Xfer 1A 241 3.0 0.348
Curd Xfer 1B 242 2.0 0.312
Curd Xfer 2 243 1.5 0.288
On Off
2.0 3.0
1.5 2.0
1.0 1.50
On Off
0.360 0.351
0.330 0.319
0.313 0.299
IMHOFF TRIAL
Imhoff Results
Averages
Averages
FT Results
Step
Curd Xfer 1A
Curd Xfer 1B
Curd Xfer 2
HCV 21 - 22 /
Vat 7 - 8
offHCV 23 - 24 /
Vat 9 - 10
HCV 25-26 /
Vat 3-4
HCV 27- 28 /
Vat 5-6
on
Curd Xfer 1B
Curd Xfer 2
Production Date
off
on
Cheese Type
Step
Curd Xfer 1A
The cheese fines were significantly reduced when the weir
is turned on.
This is a reduction of about 332 gallons of cheese fines
per day or about 120,184 gallons per year.
(Using a 17% yield figure on a typical 40 vat day)
That equals an estimated 272,719 lbs of cheese fines
saved over the course of one year. (Using a 75% shrink factor)
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Harold Mlodzik
Rodney Lehman
Vickie Jones
Cheese Technical Team
Cheese Supervisors
Everybody else that helped me!
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