Friesland Campina

Premium cheese is made at FrieslandCampina in Lutjewinkel. In order to make the factory completely future-proof, a number of new projects have been started here, to which the latest standards and wishes apply. “It is important for our partners that we are a reliable and robust organization that delivers consistent, high quality”, explains project manager Vincent Klink. “For several projects, Flowcomm process components were chosen.”

The projects serve as preparation for the replacement of the current brine bath, a challenging task for the project team in Lutjewinkel. Prior to the tenders, transparent, fair comparisons are always made in order to make the right choices. This is also the case with the CIP project: instead of the 3 existing CIP sets, one central CIP set is being built at a new location. A second major project concerns the replacement of the existing evaporator for a reverse osmosis installation that will soon be used to thicken gasless whey. Here too FrieslandCampina opted for components from Flowcomm. The front of the factory will have a completely new refueling room, including Bardiani tank bottom valves.

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Vincent: “Together with the location, we examined this brand in comparison with the valves of our former supplier. Our colleagues at FrieslandCampina in the north of the country are standardized on Bardiani valves, because of the robust, hygienic design. They were already familiar with Flowcomm's working method and the quality of Bardiani. They also have experience with simple maintenance and they can easily communicate with Flowcomm's service department. Based on these experiences and the discussions with Flowcomm, we have also decided to standardize on Bardiani. Applying robust quality valves fits in with our vision.”

FIRST EXPERIENCE

Since the contract was awarded, the first experiences with Flowcomm and the components have been excellent. The principle of 'a deal is a deal' is at the top, which excludes long discussions and hints. With internal adjustments to the new construction plans, we work hard to deliver the right components on time. In addition, the Flowcomm team closely monitors the FrieslandCampina engineers during the ordering process to see whether everything is described as desired and whether the codes are correct. This extra quality check is embraced by Project Manager Vincent Klink: “I find that very valuable. If we unexpectedly end up with the wrong components, it will take us twice as much time and effort to get it right again.”