HILMAR CHEESE COMPANY

DALHART, TX Nicole Jax

Cheese Technical Intern

Supervisor: Harold Mlodzik

Summer 2015

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FUN FACT! I had my likeness sculpted into 90-lb

block of butter on Labor Day of

2013 at the MN State Fair!

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o Born and raised on a small, 25-head dairy farm in SE

Minnesota

o Previous internships include Quality Assurance at Kemps

LLC- Ice Cream Plant, and Operations at the newly

constructed Mini BabyBel facility in Brookings

o Majoring in Dairy Manufacturing with minors in Agriculture

Business and Food Safety at South Dakota State University

• Growing company

• Positive news in the headlines of many

dairy industry newsletters

• In early 2013, I toured the Hilmar site

and Visitor Center with the SDSU Dairy

Club and really liked it!

• Co-operative business model

that manufactures bulk

cheese -- something I haven’t

done before

• Location was away from

home -- an experience I

wanted to gain before

graduation in May

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My internship consisted of completing several small to

medium sized projects instead of one large project

1. Update Plant 5 and 6

Recipe books

2. Curd Pump Trials

3. Evaluate block weights on

Plant 6

4. HTST Flushes

5. Investigate pepper mill

timing

6. Flowmeter Comparison

7. Train in the boxer room

8. Tower 27 Evaluation

9. Evaluate leaker blocks to

determine cause

10. Slipped Liners

11.Wedge wire whey fats

12. Cheese Fines

OBJECTIVE

This objective of this project is to determine which pump, Sine, Fristam, or

Alfalaval has the best ability to reduce the fat content in the whey.

MEET THE PUMPS

• Sine [ MR160 ]

– Currently the pump being used in Plant 5 & 6

– Displaces 396 gal/minute @ max rpm

• Fristam [ FKL580]

– Displaces 728 gal/minute @ max rpm

• Alfalaval [ SRU8 ]

– Displaces 2,250 gal/minute @ max rpm

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6

BENEFITS

• Cheese: This will allow more fat to be retained in the curd and will help

the curd level on the belt to be more consistent which will lead to more

consistent curd wash, salting, moisture, and pounds per hour filling towers

• Protein: This will minimize the fat globules that plug up the pores of the

membranes that make up the Reverse Osmosis system allowing the

equipment to function better for a longer duration, and creating a

higher quality protein

PUMP SPEEDS @ SAMPLING

• Day 1 & 2: Sine vs. Fristam

– Upon averaging Day 1 and 2 Trials, the FRISTAM pump showed on average

0.041 better whey fats than the sine pump, which is currently in use in Plant 5

and Plant 6

• Day 3 & 4: Fristam vs. Alfalaval

– Upon averaging Day 3 and 4 Trials, the FRISTAM pump showed on average

0.036 better whey fats than the sine pump, which is currently in use in Plant 5

and Plant 6

The FRISTAM pump had the greatest ability to reduce the fat content in

whey. The FRISTAM pump showed a total average of 0.039 better

whey fat than the Sine or Alfalaval pumps.

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OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project was to ensure the total solids

component of the milk upon start up (5-6%) and shutdown

(8.5-10%) are in alignment to the goals of Hilmar

Cheese Company.

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QUICK BACKGROUND INFO

• Depending on the plant, an average of 16-17%

solids were being target in the milk used in vat for

cheese production.

Date Type TS

6/12/2015 Open Valve 5.63

6/16/2015 Open Valve 5.17

6/19/2015 Open Valve 5.63

Plant 6 Shutdown Total

Solids ValuesDate Type TS

6/10/2015 Open Valve 5.75

6/11/2015 Open Valve 6.04

6/18/2015 Open Valve 6.39

Plant 5 Shutdown Total

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STARTUP

VALUES

FOR

PLANT 5

AND 6

Date Type TS

1000 gal 4.21

CV Begin

CV End

1000 gal 3.91

CV Begin

CV End

1000 gal 2.65

CV Begin 8.83

CV End 10.1

1000 gal 2.73

CV Begin 9.2

CV End 10.32

1000 gal 2.64

CV Begin 9.22

CV End 10.31

1000 gal 2.58

CV Begin 8.06

CV End 9.29

10.38

Plant 6 Start Up Total

Solids Values

6/22/2015

6/9/2015

6/10/2015

6/17/2015

6/18/2015

6/19/2015

10.59 Date Type TS

1000 gal 2.94

CV Begin

CV End

1000 gal XXX

CV Begin 8.65

CV End 10.43

1000 gal 6.75

CV Begin

CV End

1000 gal 2.62

CV Begin 7.28

CV End 8.95

Plant 5 Start Up Total

9.78

9.04

6/9/2015

6/11/2015

6/10/2015

6/18/2015

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• Objectives for both Plant

5 and 6 were met

• No adjustments were

necessary in Plant 5

• Plant 6 flush was

decreased by 700 lbs on

startup, and 200 lbs on

shutdown

• Solids on Plant 5 were as

follows:

– Start Up 8.12%

– Shutdown 6.39%

• Solids on Plant 6 were as

follows:

– Start Up 8.70%

– Shutdown 5.63%

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• Hilmar Employees are highly in favor of diamond

plating the rest of the towers on Plant 6

• In fact, they would like to see the whole deck

diamond plated.

• Diamond Plating Plant 6 towers will be Leaner,

will have fewer safety implications, and improve

the work conditions of Hilmar Cheese Company

Tower Operators, and anyone who is present on

the tower deck.

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OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project was to reduce the number

of consumer complaints for slipped liners on the 640#

blocks.

QUICK BACKGROUND INFO

• Currently getting 1 consumer complaint per 2-3

month period.

• Target is zero complaints.

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• My solution was to

improve the visibility of

the slipped liners.

• I came up with a

brightly colored and

contrasting label that be

seen from a distance.

• The coldbox will radio

back to the tower

operator with the MHU

# to tag for a PIN 17

• Unfortunately, because of the duration this trial I

will not be here to see the end of this trial through

• Hilmar Cheese Company should expect to see

definite results in early 2016.

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OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project was to determine if using the weir

on the Plant 6 Belt will reduce the number of cheese fines that

are produced in Plant 6.

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QUICK BACKGROUND INFO • Imhoff cones were used in this trial to determine

amount of cheese fines

– Use a liter of raw whey per cone, and then sits for

1 hour before reading level of fines

• Parameters

– “ON” parameters are 5 second dumps every 5

minutes.

– “OFF” parameters are 9,999 second dumps every

0 minutes.

RESULTS

Reduced cheese fines by

approximately 33% with

having the weir turned on

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7/30/2015 Cheddar

on/off Vat # StepSample

Name

Imhoff Cone

Reading (approx)

FT

Reading

Curd Xfer 1A 111 3.0 0.380

Curd Xfer 1B 112 3.0 0.369

Curd Xfer 2 113 1.5 0.335

Curd Xfer 1A 121 3.0 0.379

Curd Xfer 1B 122 3.0 0.372

Curd Xfer 2 123 2.0 0.332

Curd Xfer 1A 131 3.0 0.350

Curd Xfer 1B 132 3.0 0.355

Curd Xfer 2 133 2.0 0.321

Curd Xfer 1A 141 2.0 0.361

Curd Xfer 1B 142 2.0 0.370

Curd Xfer 2 143 1.5 0.330

Curd Xfer 1A 151 2.0 0.371

Curd Xfer 1B 152 2.0 0.356

Curd Xfer 2 153 1.5 0.338

Curd Xfer 1A 161 2.0 0.384

Curd Xfer 1B 162 2.0 0.382

Curd Xfer 2 163 1.5 0.337

On Off

2.0 3.0

2.0 3.0

1.5 1.83

On Off

0.372 0.370

0.369 0.365

0.335 0.329

Curd Xfer 1B

Curd Xfer 2

Production Date

on HCV 26/ Vat 06

on

off

off

Cheese Type

Step

Curd Xfer 1A

IMHOFF TRIAL

Imhoff Results

Averages

Averages

FT Results

Step

Curd Xfer 1A

Curd Xfer 1B

Curd Xfer 2

HCV 27/ Vat 07

on HCV 28/ Vat 08

HCV 22/ Vat 02

HCV 23 / Vat 03

HCV 24/ Vat 04

off

RESULTS

Reduced cheese fines by

approximately 33% with

having the weir turned on

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7/31/2015 Colby Jack

on/off Vat # StepSample

Name

Imhoff Cone

Reading (approx)FT Reading

Curd Xfer 1A 211 2.0 0.358

Curd Xfer 1B 212 1.5 0.331

Curd Xfer 2 213 1.0 0.319

Curd Xfer 1A 221 2.0 0.362

Curd Xfer 1B 222 1.5 0.329

Curd Xfer 2 223 1.0 0.307

Curd Xfer 1A 231 3.0 0.354

Curd Xfer 1B 232 2.0 0.326

Curd Xfer 2 233 1.5 0.309

Curd Xfer 1A 241 3.0 0.348

Curd Xfer 1B 242 2.0 0.312

Curd Xfer 2 243 1.5 0.288

On Off

2.0 3.0

1.5 2.0

1.0 1.50

On Off

0.360 0.351

0.330 0.319

0.313 0.299

IMHOFF TRIAL

Imhoff Results

Averages

Averages

FT Results

Step

Curd Xfer 1A

Curd Xfer 1B

Curd Xfer 2

HCV 21 - 22 /

Vat 7 - 8

offHCV 23 - 24 /

Vat 9 - 10

HCV 25-26 /

Vat 3-4

HCV 27- 28 /

Vat 5-6

on

Curd Xfer 1B

Curd Xfer 2

Production Date

off

on

Cheese Type

Step

Curd Xfer 1A

The cheese fines were significantly reduced when the weir

is turned on.

This is a reduction of about 332 gallons of cheese fines

per day or about 120,184 gallons per year.

(Using a 17% yield figure on a typical 40 vat day)

That equals an estimated 272,719 lbs of cheese fines

saved over the course of one year. (Using a 75% shrink factor)

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Harold Mlodzik

Rodney Lehman

Vickie Jones

Cheese Technical Team

Cheese Supervisors

Everybody else that helped me!

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