Great plains builder: to keep pace with growing sales, Anderson Erickson restructures its plants and adds 25,000 sq. ft - Anderson Erickson Dairy Co - includes related articles - 1993 Processor of the Year - Cover Story

Dairy Foods, Nov, 1993 by Jack Mans

Growth is the name of the game in the dairy industry, and Anderson Erickson Dairy in Des Moines, Iowa, is doing its share. The company is in the first stages of a 25,000-sq.-ft. plant expansion and space rearrangement that will upgrade every element of its plant, and relocate a good portion of the production operations by the time it is completed in 1999.

"Our original goal was to increase cooler space," says Frank McDowell, vice president of production. "We also needed additional capacity in all of our departments to keep up with sales and to be able to produce new products coming out of R&D. The problem was that there was no place to expand because the plant is surrounded by city streets. Then, when we built the new office, this opened space for operations."

McDowell is referring to AE's stunning new corporate office building across the street from the plant. Existing operations have moved into the vacated office area, which in turn opens up more operations space for additional changes.

The toughest part of this program is renovating the existing plant, building additions and moving equipment, while simultaneously keeping most of the existing equipment operating. To accomplish this difficult task, AE is proceeding in phases.

Phase one is already underway and will be completed next spring. It essentially encompasses conversion of the vacant 9,000-sq.-ft. office area located at the north end of the plant. After the old office area is demolished, a new lab will be built and existing lab equipment moved. A new mechanical room will be built adjacent to the existing mechanical room. Three new 30,000-gal. silos will be installed next to the existing pasteurized silos as part of this phase.

Phase two will begin in the fall of 1994 and is scheduled for completion in 1995. It primarily consists of building a 27,000-sq.-ft. addition in the remaining empty space at the north end of the building where the old office was located, plus an adjacent area north of the present building. The cottage cheese and cultured products operations will occupy part of this space, and the remainder of the area will be used for washing and storing empty cases. Currently, these operations are located in the center of the building next to the cooler.

"We see significant growth in our yogurt and sour cream sales, and we just don't have room for additional production in our present location," says McDowell.

Phase two will also include a second floor for employee facilities such as lockers and a lunch room.

Phase three entails remodeling the 17,000-sq.-ft. vacated empty case area and cultured product rooms into additional cooler space and an expanded filler area.

Phase four, slated for 1998 or 1999, covers the construction of a new 8,000-sq.-ft. ice cream mix and blend area in the triangular space at the far north end of the plant site adjacent to a new cultured and cottage cheese area. Equipment from the ice cream mix plant now located across town will be moved to this area.

"Having the ice cream mix operation here in the plant will greatly improve efficiency. We will be able to receive all of our milk here rather than having to receive some in a separate location. Also, we ship the finished commercial mixes over here for storage, and this will eliminate that extra handling," says McDowell.

Phase four also will include the construction of a new three-bay milk receiving station outside the east wall of the new empty case storage room.

50,000 CASES PER DAY

All of these changes should not be construed to mean that the AE plant is a small-time operation at present. It already receives 1.1 million lbs. of milk and turns out 50,000 cases of fluid and cultured products per day.

AE produces more than 100 different fluid items including milk, milk byproducts and juices in seven different package sizes: 5-gal.-dispenser bags, gallons, half-gallons, quarts, pints, 10-oz., and half-pints.

The plant has two HTST units rated at 50,000 and 30,000 gph respectively. In both units milk is separated after it passes through the regenerative section of the HTST. Cream is added back to the milk to provide the desired fat level before the product is directed back into the heating section of the unit. The larger unit runs milk exclusively, while the smaller unit runs milk and byproducts.

The 50,000-gph HTST system includes an automatic standardizing system in which the operator enters the butterfat content of the incoming milk and the desired butterfat content of the finished product. Magnetic flow meters regulate the respective flows.

"This is an old system that we keep rebuilding because it does such a good job for us. It maintains the butterfat content within 0.01 to 0.02%," says Plant Manager Norm Dostal.

A new computerized tank gauging system with touch screens is currently being installed. This system will enable operators to direct product from either HTST to any storage tank and from any storage tank to any filler.

AE has seven packaging lines: four running cartons, two running plastic jugs and one running 5-gal. dispenser bags.