Chinese dairy triples production with Tetra Pak filling machine

Tetra Pak has successfully deployed its A3/Speed filling machine for Tetra Prisma Aseptic portion packs for its first customer - Mengniu, a leading Chinese dairy.

The filling machine runs at a speed of 24,000 packs/h - approximately 7 packs/s. According to Tetra Pak, the A3/Speed is one of the world’s fastest filling machines for carton packages and can push operational costs down by as much as 35%.

In 2012, the company was delivering an annual output of 94 million packs by running two filling machines at full capacity, but was still not able to keep up with demand for its premium flavoured milk, Latte. Following a successful field test in November 2012, Mengniu decided to purchase the Tetra Pak A3/Speed to meet the rising demand.

“Within 10 months of installing the first Tetra Pak A3/Speed, 100 million packages had been produced on a single line, and we were able to reduce the overall operational cost for Latte by 20% in comparison with low-speed filling machines. Based on these results, we made the decision to order three more lines,” said Gao Jianjun, factory manager of Mengniu Dairy Plant in Ma'anshan City.

By installing the Tetra Pak A3/Speed, Mengniu was able to triple its line productivity, greatly increasing its production capacity.

“We are committed to supporting customers’ growth with solutions that bring outstanding performance. We look forward to seeing success with more customers,” said Trevor Eastwood, product platform director at Tetra Pak.

The Tetra Pak A3/Speed is available in three versions, each of which is designed for particular Tetra Pak products. For Tetra Prisma Aseptic portion packs, the machine can run at 24,000 packs/h; for Tetra Prisma Aseptic and Tetra Brik Aseptic family packs, it can run at 15,000 packs/h; and for Tetra Brik Aseptic portion packs, it can run at 24,000 packs/h. The machine is based on the Tetra Pak A3 platform, which is designed as an integrated component of Tetra Pak’s fully automated iLine offer.

The Tetra Pak A3/Speed filling machine.