The Chinese powdered milk company Synutra has hired a Michigan industrial equipment supplier to provide it with automated guided vehicles, conveyors and other automation to build what eventually will be the world’s largest powdered milk manufacturing facility.
The facility, which currently is under construction in Carhaix, Brittany, in northwestern France, will use automation provided by Egemin Automation, of Holland, Michigan, to control all flows of raw materials, finished products and consumables. It is scheduled to be online at the end of next year.
The demand for milk powder is on the rise globally and is fueled by a growing use of the product in Asian countries. Major powdered milk companies in Europe are involved in a production race to capture the largest possible share of this expanding market.
For this project, Synutra has partnered with Sodiaal, the third biggest milk cooperative in Europe that has more than 14,000 producers and provides milk powder for Yoplait, Candia and other companies.
Synutra France’s new facility will feature the latest technological advances provided by Egemin, including:
- Conveyor loops in both the receiving and shipping areas
- A fully automated warehouse with the capacity to handle 9,000 pallets with 5 robotic storage and retrieval units
- 6 AGVs to distribute raw materials and consumables throughout the plant
- WMS/WCS software to control and coordinate all transport and storage systems.
The facility is expected to cost an estimated $166 million. It wil be able to produce up to 300,000 tons of milk powder per year, all of which will go to the Chinese market, according to Liang Zhang, Synutra’s CEO. The plant will receive raw milk from 1,000 local dairy farmers.
The new plant will use infrared identification tags to track pallets as they move through the facility. Big bags for shipment to China will be prepared in the plant’s shipping area using a conveyor system. A pallet exchange system will then swap plastic pallets carrying the big bags for wooden pallets.