Ovid, MI

MMPA - Butter Plant Expansion

Design-Builder

Shambaugh & Son, L.P.

Client

Michigan Milk Producers Association

Services Provided

  • Automation Engineering
  • Electrical
  • Fire Protection
  • Mechanical
  • Refrigeration
Close view of butter moving along a conveyor system at the MMPA butter plant

Client Objectives

MMPA wanted to build a new butter production plant connected to their current facility. Production was to remain uninterrupted during the construction and transition processes.

The primary focus of this project was to equip MMPA with a facility and process equipment that enables all of the cream being produced in the milk drying operation to be processed under one roof.

Scope of Services

The nearly 6,000-square-foot plant addition and 4,300-square-foot renovation includes a new processing area, a robot palletizing area, a control room, salt room, and silo alley, five new 50,000 gallon refrigerated storage silos, a new cream receiving bay, and increased cooler capacity.

Significant upgrades were made to the building infrastructure, including: incorporating a new electrical switchgear room, installing new HEPA filtered air handling units with UV lights. In addtion, installing a new state-of-the-art CIP system with inlet and outlet mix-proof valve clusters that were added to allow for the cleaning of filling and discharge lines separately, signifcantly reduced cleaning turnaround times.

Solutions

This major upgrade provides enough additional capacity to also receive cream from outside sources to process into butter.

With the addition of the new continuous butter churn, MMPA will be able to process 2.5 times (15,000 PPH) the amount of butter previously produced at this plant, achieving 100 million lbs./year capacity.

With the addition of a third filler head, the capacity increases to 4.5 times (27,500 PPH).