Case Study: Finding the Solution for a Blocked Separator

Recently we have visited a customer in Ukraine. Originally we met him to talk about equipment and processes to produce Gouda cheese. However, our business partner asked us to follow him into his operating rooms to show us a problem he is facing since he has bought a new separator (which they did not buy from us by the way). What he showed us, you can see in the pictures below. Basically, the plates of his separator are suffering from sediments and after emptying the separator they find residue which has more than a strange color an on top of that is much thicker than usual.

After a short investigation it was clear that there have been made two mistakes:

First of all the Separator was deficient. Obviously, the machine was missing 5 plates. Second, the dairy processed its milk on a „cold“ separator which means they missed to pre-heat it e.g. with the help of hot water. What happens when you make such mistakes, you can see on the pictures above: Cream sediments block your separator, the plates suffer and an abnormal residue empties your separator.

Luckily our business partner introduced the challenge he was facing to us. Imagine: his technologist was saying that they would need an additional clarifying separator to solve this issue, what obviously was wrong.

We on the other side recommended to add the missing plates and to pre-wash the machine with hot water in order to pre-heat it. As an interim solution, until the separator plates are delivered, we suggested that they should try to tighten the plates. This bridged (more or less) the missing plates.

In the end, fixing this issue according to our recommendations saved the dairy money for a separator, their financial planning just did not allow.