New production line for company manufacturing 60 million tonnes of cheese a year

BMI (Bayerische Milchindustrie eG) is not a small-time dairy operative.

Currently the business includes nine raw milk supplying cooperatives and 19 independent dairies, and processes 2.8 billion kilograms of milk and whey each year at its nine production sites in Germany. The production plants are all close to their supplying farms and dairies, enabling short transportation routes.

In total the company produces more than 143 million kilograms of fresh dairy products, 62 million kilograms of cheese specialities and 116 million kilograms of individualised powder products each year.

GEA has recently been selected to supply an extended pasta filata cheese production line for BMI in Jessen, Germany. With this project GEA brings together its joint cheese-making expertise, resulting from its acquisition of de Klokslag and CMT in 2014 and 2015 respectively, with GEA’s flow and processing experience to provide a single offering.

The GEA plant will expand BMI’s production capability of pizza cheese by around 2.5 tonnes/hour for the supply of pizza cheese in 15 kg Euroblocks to industry worldwide.

The contract with GEA is for the extension of one of BMI’s three cheese lines. The scope of supply includes: the revision of the existing salt system, cooker and stretcher; two GEA CMT DMC modules; and a GEA de Klokslag brining system. The individual components will be brought together to form a continuous production line using GEA piping, engineering and control systems. Assembly work will begin on-site in January 2018 and GEA engineers will commission the project in March 2018.

GEA’s combined cheese-making experience and scope of supply provides for the mechanisation of the production processes for fresh mozzarella, pizza cheese, provolone, scamorza, kashkaval and a wide range of hard and semi-hard cheeses.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Maksim Shebeko