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ABOUT THE CUSTOMER
A leading provider of
equipment, processes and
reporting systems
• Supports hundreds of dairy
farmers across the U.S.
• Focused on providing their
customers solutions that
guarantee product safety,
while improving efficiencies
and profitability.
• Product line includes
development of systems to
monitor and control key
aspects of the cleaning
process.
• Target audience for above
system is large farms with
hundreds or thousands of
cows.
INCREASE CAPACITY AND IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY
SOLUTIONS – Why ifm?
ifm was the right partner because of our wide array of process solutions that are competitively
priced.
•
ifm’s LDL100 conductivity sensor allowed the customer to install additional monitoring
points at the supply and at the return of each cleaning circuit, effectively shortening their
CIP loop. This allowed the customer to accurately track the phase shifts between each cycle
(wash/rinse/product) at multiple points and clearly identify when the cycle was complete.
•
ifm’s IO-Link sensors and Ethernet modules allowed the customer to collect multiple
process values from a single ifm device, reducing installation and wiring costs, and
optimizing their control system by collecting multiple process values through a single output
wire. They were also able to develop customized alerts and alarms based on the additional
process and diagnostic values available from ifm IO-Link sensors.
MEASURABLE RESULTS
•
Utilizing the LDL100 enabled a time savings of 20 minutes per day which resulted in
available production time.
•
Costs were reduced by 60% using ifm process sensors (PI/PM Pressure, TP/TS Temperature,
and LDL100 Conductivity sensors). This lowered the cost and increased the efficiency of their
system, allowing more dairies to benefit from their solution.
This company’s industry is currently facing several challenges. These include a shrinking market
for milk as consumption per capita has gone from 23 to 17 gallons over the past several years.
In the last four years, sales of nondairy milks, such as almond and oat milk have risen 23%.
While milk prices have increased lately, they are nowhere near their most recent peak in 2014.
CHALLENGES
•
Large dairy farms are a 24/7 operation and any improvement in productivity will result in a
significant improvement to the end-customer.
•
The high price of their current conductivity sensor only allowed the customer to purchase
one unit per system. The customer had to make a compromise as to the best place to
install the conductivity sensor, which meant controlling the cleaning cycle from a single
point at the end of two circuits.
•
Multiple input channels were required to collect conductivity and temperature data to verify
that the system had achieved the proper conductivity and temperature at the CIP return.
•
The current sensors/controls allowed remote connectivity to obtain the process values only.
However, there was no interface available to access diagnostic information on the sensors that
would assist in future support requests.
•
The total cost and efficiency of the system reduced the number of potential dairy farms who
could use it.
60% reduction
in system cost
$38,000/year
efficiency
improvement from
shorter cleaning
cycles
Savings from
reduction in
chemical and
water treatment
usage
Contact your local ifm Sales Engineer
or email cs.us@ifm.com
2020