The colors of money - 1993 Capital Equipment and Supplies Survey - includes listing of firms that participated in survey - Cover Story

Dairy Foods, May, 1993 by Paul Rogers

With projects like Wells' Dairy's waste treatment facility for the whole town of Le Mars, Iowa, it's not too surprising. The Le Mars project, which will be completed over the next two years, illustrates the extent to which dairy companies are now immersed in waste treatment concerns. The current town facility is running out of capacity and Wells', the largest user, is "cooperating at considerable expense to enhance and maintain the environment of the town." After all, Wells' does utilize 60 percent of the current system's capacity.

While the project is a necessity in Wells' case, just as often dairies are building in anticipation of growth and tightening environmental regulations.

Tillamook County Creamery Association, for example, greatly accelerated its building schedule after a citation from EPA--not for exceeding waste discharge guidelines, but for a reporting error.

Harold Schild, general manager, explains that the co-op got caught up in contradictions between state and federal guidelines.

Tillamook's discharge currently is less than 16 percent of the government allowable amount (less than 20 pounds of solids per day, on a milk intake of 1.5 million pounds per day, where the limit is 131 pounds per day). Still, as part of the settlement with EPA, the cheesemaker is speeding up its plan. "We will have enough waste capacity next year to meet our needs for the next 10 or 20 years."

WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT
Category spending, 1992 vs. 1993, in thousands of dollars

PROCESSING EQUIPMENT           1992          1993      % CHANGE

MILK CONDENSING                $433       $10,829        2,401
DRYING/POWDERING              2,344        16,834          618
FAST-FREEZING                   756         5,287          599
METERING PUMPS                  838           309          -63
CHEDDAR-TYPE CHEESE           1,312           212          -84
UHT/ASEPTIC PROCESSING       12,135         1,701          -86
EXTRUDED NOVELTY FORMERS      2,039           250          -88
MOLDED NOVELTY FORMERS        1,100            17          -98

PACKAGING EQUIPMENT            1992          1993     % CHANGE

POWDER BAGGING                  $28        $2,725        9,632
CAN FILLING                      70           960        1,271
PORTION PACKAGING               193           785          307
ON-LINE INSPECTION              630         1,949          209
BLOWMOLDERS                   1,353         3,195          136
CASE HANDLING                 3,987         1,984          -50
PLASTIC BOTTLE FILLERS        4,141         1,359          -67
ESL/ASEPTIC FILLERS           6,600         1,895          -71
PAPER FILLERS                13,744         3,822          -72

DISTRIBUTION/SUPPORT
SERVICES EQUIPMENT             1992          1993     % CHANGE

DRY/RAW INGREDIENT           $1,454        $3,341          130
HANDLING AND STORAGE
BOILERS                       1,142         2,012           76
GLYCOL SYSTEMS                  355           535           51
WASTE TREATMENT               5,488         7,713           41
AIR COMPRESSORS               1,311           994          -24
CLEAN ROOM SYSTEMS              348           258          -26
ICE BUILDERS                    451           254          -44

Source: DFISA/Dairy Foods Capital Equipment and Supplies Survey