From design to operation: building a high-performance, reliable dairy facility
Smart instrumentation for sustainable dairy operations
The engineering firm was seeking an ideal vendor partner to support their bid to design, build, and maintain a next-generation sustainable dairy plant. Drawing from experience, they recognized that production line stoppages and system failures were often caused by unreliable instrumentation. To ensure long-term performance, the project required robust process sensors with advanced functionality, fail-safe operation, while staying within budget.
ifm’s proven reliability, technical innovation, and budget-friendly solutions made it the perfect choice for a long-term automation partner.
Results
Impact on dairy facility:
- 40 less hours troubleshooting due to localized displays
- 20% - 30% cost savings ($20K estimated savings on this project)
- Zero service calls related to ifm installed sensors
Impact on customer (engineering firm):
- One customer request to ifm for support since plant startup
- Less than $5K / year in replacement parts since start of production
- 2018 Food Engineering Magazine "Sustainable Plant of the Year" recognition
The challenge
- Cost-effective premium instrumentation: our customer, the engineering firm, had previously lost project bids due to selecting high-cost instrumentation from premium suppliers. To stay competitive for this project, it was essential to find a vendor offering both premium performance and cost-effectiveness.
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Time-consuming troubleshooting: past troubleshooting processes were inefficient and costly. The absence of local sensor displays meant technicians had to install temporary gauges or manually test wiring and current signals, often taking up to 30 minutes per incident. Reducing this time was a key priority.
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Tight project timelines and supply constraints: delays in sensor procurement had previously disrupted project timelines. Whether due to misplaced components or unanticipated ordering gaps, fast availability and delivery of critical sensors were crucial to avoid costly delays.
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Reliability and longevity of sensors: in prior projects, over 20% of process instruments failed during start-up, and additional failures occurred well into production—leading to significant maintenance costs and operational downtime. For this plant, only sensors with a proven track record of durability in demanding applications would be acceptable.
The solution
ifm’s comprehensive range of process instrumentation, including PI series pressure sensors, TD temperature transmitters, and LMT level switches, offered the ideal solution for this facility. The devices used for temperature and pressure measurement featured localized displays, while all of the sensors were specifically engineered to meet the hygienic and operational demands of the dairy industry, ensuring both reliability and ease of use.
- ifm products provided a price/performance ratio that allowed the customer to reduce the cost of their electrical design and enabled the purchase of additional monitoring points at the same cost. The trusted solution from ifm instilled confidence for the engineering firm and their customer, delivering both quality and affordability.
- ifm sensors provided integrated displays that eliminated the need of separate reference gauges. Setup was quick with pre-scaled measuring ranges of each sensor. Having local displays enabled accurate and quick cross-reference of the measured value from the sensor to an HMI hundreds of feet away and quickly omitted measurement error as a root cause of issues.
- On multiple occasions throughout the life of the project, ifm’s Service Center was able to deliver Next Day orders. This allowed the customer to stay on schedule and not wait weeks for delivery. The new facility was produced on time and is running successfully today.
- ifm’s one-piece, stainless steel sensors are tested for thermal shock, mechanical shock, vibration and high-pressure cleaning to ensure reliability. More than 50 years of developing sensors for the food industry, ifm stands behind its products and offers a 5-year warranty on all products.
Technologies
PI series sanitary pressure and level sensors, equipped with integrated displays, significantly improved process visibility and enabled faster, more efficient troubleshooting.
TD sanitary temperature transmitters improved quality and availability, eliminating temperature measurement drift in critical process points and reducing time between process steps with fast response time.
LMT point level sensors increased process performance with reliable measurements, keping the process running and preventing regular maintenance to clean or adjust sensors.
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