Milk reception in a time-efficient manner: A case from the dairy processing plant

The short raw milk lifespan is a matter of concern for the dairy processing sector. It is crucial to the final product quality to ensure that raw milk will reach the cooling facility without undue delay while maintaining high hygienic standards. However, an effective milk reception is undermined by numerous internal and external challenges due to the complexity of the dairy manufacturing system and the stochastic variation of the milk supply chain. This work presents an industrial case study where the milk reception performance was examined, and opportunities for improvement were identified. The output provided operational documentation of each stage of milk reception. The outcomes illustrate that existing infrastructure and operations were not set up to manage a post-quota abolition uptake in milk production. A number of shortcomings and challenges were outlined, namely process bottlenecks, inefficient design of the facility layout, lack of standardized procedures, and internal-communication issues. Recommendations for improvements have been provided to achieve a 23.4% reduction of process lead time. These findings provide an opportunity for the industry to review their milk reception operations to deal with stochastic variations in milk supply and seasonality.