A Quarter Century of ESL: Oneida plant helps meet regional and national demand for long-life products

Dairy Foods, Dec, 2001 by David Phillips

In 1975 the dairy industry was just beginning to realize the potential of Ultra High Temperature pasteurization. That was the year the Oneida, N.Y. plant (now owned by HP Hood) celebrated its tenth anniversary. It was also the first year of operation of a UHT system that was the first of its kind in the Northeast.

The plant was owned by Dairylea Cooperative and produced aseptic pudding before being acquired by HP Hood in 1988.

A quarter century later, the Oneida plant uses a UHT pasteurization as if there had never been any other way of doing things. Ten lines fill everything from creamer portion packs to half-gallon gable tops with products that have a 60-day shelf life. Working in concert with the company's newest plant in Winchester, Va., the 36-year-old facility helps Hood meet demand for ESL products as it grows its licensed product division into a national force.

"We're treating it like one plant that happens to have buildings that are more than 300 miles apart," says Mike Suever, Hood's v.p. of process operations and milk procurement for the western region.

When the Winchester Plant began production about 18 months ago, some of Oneida's production was transferred there.

With increased sales of licensed ESL products, including a new national licensing agreement to produce Lactaid [R] products, Oneida has seen little slowdown.

Currently, Winchester produces NesQuik, and Carnation's CoffeeMate, in PET, pint and quart bottles, Lactaid and cream products in gabletop containers. Oneida is busy with Lactaid, milk and cream products including Land 0' Lakes and Hood's own Simply Smart all in gabletop, as well as creamer cups for food service.

Ten lines in two buildings

It's been a long time since the Oneida plant helped usher in ESL and the plant has continued to grow.

"We have two receiving bays receiving 20-30 tankers a day, 5 to 6 days per week," says Plant Mgr. Leigh Pehrson. Milk procurement for the Oneida plant as well as Hood's cultured dairy facility is handled jointly.

Four raw milk silos--two with 50,000 gal capacity each and two that hold 30,000 gals -- provide enough milk for a day's production. There are separate sets of process equipment for what Pehrson calls buildings one and two.

"Building one has two Tetra Pak steam injection systems where we bring the milk to 280 and hold it for at least two seconds then cool it to below 40 degrees," Pehrson says. The milk is transferred to two Tetra sterile surge tanks prior to packaging. Separation is done with a Westfalia unit. Milk processing and distribution is fully automated, utilizing automatic valve and PLC controllers.

The first filling room consists of five double-line Evergreen fillers similar to those used at Winchester. Two are designed for half gallons and two are for quarts. Cleaning and sterilization are always critical in ESL processing, and each machine has a dedicated CIP system. The fillers' carton forming and filling zones are supplied with HEPA filtered air. Cartons are sanitized with a solution of hydrogen peroxide.

The half gallon fillers turn out up to 120 half gals per minute. Throughout the plant the balance of gabletop fillers can run 80 to 150 quart, pint or half-pint cartons per minute depending on machine and the carton size. The product is then conveyed to a caser and packed into corrugated cardboard boxes for automated palletization.

In building two, four Cherry Burrell process systems are used for UHT. Three of them are indirect systems and one uses steam injection. Four more Evergreens are used for quarts, pints and half-pints and four Winpack fillers are used for portion-pack creamer cups.

The plant has a full-service lab, which runs microbiological and other quality assurance tests. Pehrson notes that quality control (as well as sanitation) are crucial.

"Our quality record is superior," he says. "No product is shipped unless it meets strict quality standards."

Storage Stays is Step

Alvey and FMC automated palletizers are used to build pallets of product which are then conveyed to a cold storage facility.

In 1992, 26,000 square feet of cold storage was added to the plant. As production continued to grow, so did the need for storage. In 1999 another 28,000 square feet was added providing a combined storage capacity of 6,200 pallets. The original space was converted to an efficient order picking area, and the new warehouse was designed for the bulk storage and to interface with the order picking area.

"It was an evolving design," Pehrson says. "We drew on in-house experience and from ideas that came from our employees. Then we hired an outside consultant to help brainstorm a design concept. After that the project was managed by in-house engineering."

In the new warehouse very narrow aisle (VNA) wireguide forktrucks are used to maneuver through incredibly narrow aisles between pallets stored eight high on racks. At the end of each aisle, the operator deposits the pallet on an automated conveyer which shuttles it to the loadout, then the operator is free to receive a new pallet which has just come in from the packaging lines for putaway.