Carnation's $80 million wonder; computer integrated technology dominates Carnation Co.'s new plant in Bakersfield, Calif - Technology

Dairy Foods, August, 1989

Carnation's $80 Million Wonder

Computer integrated technology dominates Carnation Co.'s new plant in Bakersfield, Calif.

It has 20 production lines and 7,000 pallets of cold storage, but it has no time clocks.

Carnation's new ice cream plant in Bakersfield, Calif., prides itself on its sheer size, its commitment to the latest computer-integrated-manufacturing technology and its unconventional "team management" philosophy. They're all part of Carnation's master plan to improve efficiencies while producing more product.

The company spent $80 million to construct the world's largest ice cream producing plant on 30 acres of land 90 miles north of Los Angeles.

It built the 225,000-square-foot plant to keep up with the expanding $5.6 billion ice cream market. The plant, which began operating last October, is capable of producing more than 35 million gallons of bulk and packaged ice cream, ice cream novelties and other frozen desserts.

Products galore

When the company opened the plant last October, Carnation's specialty foods division was folded into its dairies division. The specialty foods division marketed various ice cream products, including Bon Bons ice cream nuggets. The dairies division, which Carnation says is now the third-largest producer of ice cream in the country, also produces milk, sour cream, cottage cheese and yogurt. A large portion of ice cream products from both divisions is now produced at the Bakersfield plant.

The resulting product line ranges from bulk and packaged ice cream in cups, pints, quarts and half-gallon rounds and squares to stick and stickless ice cream novelties and frozen novelties such as sandwiches, coated bars, push-ups and water ices.

The fact that the plant is capable of producing the wide variety of products should come as no surprise--225,000 square feet is the equivalent of 5.2 acres under one roof. The main production room is nearly the size of a football field.

Bigger and better

But Carnation says its newest ice cream plant isn't only bigger, it's better than its older and smaller operations.

For starters, the plant has a structural steel frame and concrete tilt-up walls. And, in keeping with the recent dairy initiative findings, the plant offers better protection for environmentally controlled conditions within critical processing areas, Carnation says.

For example, Carnation installed stainless steel inside all novelty fast-freezing chambers to provide for daily cleaning and to reduce potential air-borne recontamination.

And the plant provides a more convenient and efficient layout than the company's other dairy plants.

Carnation designed most of the plant on one level with a re-enforced walk-on ceiling to support maintenance traffic, heavy motor control systems and air conditioning duct work. The single-level design means motor control systems are positioned close to the processing equipment, and workers can easily repair all ceiling light fixtures from the top. Only employee meeting rooms and round-carton forming equipment is situated above the main processing area on a mezzanine level.

A 20-foot-wide corridor extends the length of the plant to separate raw product from pasteurized product and to provide for one-directional product flow through the plant.

The corridor also enables plant personnel to get to their work area without walking through other processing areas. Only authorized personnel may enter processing areas through a controlled access. For example, truck driver rooms are isolated to prevent them or other outsiders from entering production areas. Administrative and plant manager offices are in position to view various processing rooms through a glass partition from the mezzanine level.

Automatic process control

Throughout the plant, three levels of computers work together to form an automatic process control system. In the main office, a computer generates order, sales, accounting and usage data. Inside the plant, near the mix-formulation area, a second computer level controls the mix preparation and automatic formulation for all of the frozen dessert products. The third computer level controls all processing equipment, handling systems and stacker cranes. At terminals throughout the plant, several operators monitor and control plant processing sequences.

The ice cream mix is automatically prepared in six blending tanks, three for each pasteurizer.

Two HTST systems pasteurize at a rated capacity of 8,000 to 10,000 gallons per hour.

All mix is held in cold-wall storage tanks after pasteurization.

Several flavoring tanks of 500-gallon capacity are used to flavor the mix before pumping to the various freezers. The processing operation is divided into ice cream production lines and novelty lines. Each line is computer-controlled and highly automated.

All product transfer lines are welded stainless steel. Sampling devices are welded into various elbows within the line at critical control points. There are 80 such locations designed to assist the quality control department.

One room of the plant is designated as a kitchen area where small ingredients used in mix formulation are weighed.