High-tech for the village dairy

A Swiss village dairy is modernizing its operations with a lot of new technology and automation. However, the old control cabinet must remain in place. Tricky for the commissioned engineering firm – but solvable thanks to LÜTZE Switzerland and AirSTREAM.

Switzerland may be small, but it's a big player when it comes to cheese. Varieties like Appenzeller, Emmental, Sbrinz, or Gruyère are best-sellers around the world. What's less known is who actually produces these delicious cheeses. Take, for example, Gruyère with the AOP label: It's actually produced by around 160 mostly small village dairies in Western Switzerland. For generations, it's been a craft: from fresh daily milk, from cows fed only natural fodder.

One of these dairies is Käserei Ott in Alosen. A family business that has thoroughly updated its equipment. The new plant control was designed and built by Vogel Engineering AG, who specialize in process automation, including its own control cabinet construction. Since 1983, they've been manufacturing custom control solutions with a focus on food and milk processing. Dairies and creameries are traditional clients, some with charming names like Chäs-Hütte Rust or Molki Meiringen.

In Alosen, the new control system integrates quite a few additional components alongside existing equipment such as the cheese maker (Kessi), the pasteurizer, and the heating distribution: A new turning press, a CIP cleaning station, a self-desludging separator, as well as the closed milk intake and two milk tanks.

"The challenge is different every time. Typically, they're systems that have grown over decades," says Roman Vogel. Sometimes, they're spread across multiple buildings on the property due to space constraints. "Each generation takes a step forward technologically, so automation happens gradually." As an example, he mentions the existing cheese maker that needs to be integrated into the new control, and whose operational states are to be displayed on the new centrally located 15-inch screen. "The focus is usually on getting the interface right for tasks like these," says the Diplom Engineer.

Initially, the customer's desire to place the new control in the same location, with the same space, and preferably in the existing control cabinet caused some headaches. "It was a tricky situation. To accommodate the additional new components, we had to create the necessary space inside the cabinet," explains Roman Vogel. "This is only possible with the space-saving AirSTREAM wiring system." As requested by the customer, it was possible to install all control components, including distribution and power components in the existing field – and there was still about 10 percent of space left. "The new layout wouldn't have been possible, if cable ducts had been used. And we would have had a problem with air circulation if the ducts were in the way," says Vogel.  Thanks to the homogeneous climate, it was possible to meet the requirements for heat exchange of the individual components.  And subsequent rewiring during component replacement or retrofitting is simple and quick. "These system advantages of the AirSTREAM are extremely practical for us," he concludes.

Workmanship continues in Alosen - now with optimized and automated work processes. For example, to continuously measure the milk temperature in the cheese maker or the tanks, there's no need for a mobile thermometer or local display anymore.  The system can now be operated centrally and conveniently from the 15-inch screen, which displays temperatures, operating states, and fill levels. Likewise, the cleaning circuits run automatically at the push of a button, and all process data for quality assurance are recorded and archived.

For Vogel Engineering, the AirSTREAM system is certainly the ideal solution in the face of space-critical conditions and expected heat problems. What was the trigger? Vogel Engineering already sources quite a few products from LÜTZE Switzerland: cables and fittings, power supplies, and the LOCC box for intelligent power monitoring, relays, switches, or EMC shield clamps. "At some point, there was a lack of space in the control cabinet," Roman Vogel recalls. "Our Lütze sales engineer introduced us to the workshop manager, with whom we built the frame on a trial basis. It fit perfectly." That's how it went. And that's how it continues: "If something is missing, we call and it gets fitted; this makes our working relationship very practical. Working with LÜTZE Switzerland is as straightforward as we wish - and as we function."

Craving a bite of real Gruyère? If you're thinking of knocking on doors in Alosen, here's what you need to know: The dairies age their young loaves for several months in their own cheese cellar. Then they deliver them to one of the affineur companies of the organization Gruyère AOP. They refine the cheese in their maturation cellars based on their own recipes until it's fully developed and market-ready.

Author: Enzo Amendola, Key Account Manager, Lütze AG, Swizterland
Header picture: World-famous and extremely tasty: Gruyère cheese from Switzerland (Image: Istockphoto)