SCM Manufacturing Plant

The mixing of ingredients such as skim milk powder, sugar and water is done under warm conditions. The temperatures used for mixing are above 50 deg. C.

Milk powder is added first followed by sugar. Fat is added last and must be added at a temperature greater than 40 deg C. The recombined milk must not be held for any length of time due to risk of bacterial growth.

SCM has developed a unique mixing system that not only mixes in less than 20 minutes but also does not need the mixing heat exchanger. This prevents build up, burning and blockages of the heat exchanger.

Filtration is a critical and generally labour intensive step. Successfully developed a methodology of in-line filtration that does not need labour at all. It filters out extraneous material and undissolved powders.

The mixing SCM is heat treated to pasteurise the product. It is common to use a temperature of up to 90 deg C and 30 seconds holding time for pasteurisation. However, a pasteuriser to meet any specific time and temperature requirements.

To provide long runs without stoppages, builds pasteurisers with twin heating sections. The product can be switched from one section to the other without the need to stop the production.

The Production Logical Control (PLC) -controlled system also washes the dirty section while the other section is still in use thus providing a seemless changeover. Homogenisation process affects the viscosity of the final product and in achieving the best set points.

Flash Cooling serves the purpose of removing the surplus moisture and cooling the product to the best temperature for seeding. This process has gone through many stages of development. It started as a batch process in which the product was held under vacuum in a tank.

When the product got cooled to the correct temperature, seeding crystals were added and product cooled further to filling temperature.

This has now given way to a continuous flash cooler. uses a time tested three stage flash cooling vessel for best results.

The seeding lactose is added between stage 2 and 3. The correct vacuum levels are generated by using a combination of vacuum pump and steam ejectors. The product temperature is controlled by the PLC.

The product after flash cooler is stored in the crystallisation vats. These are now ready for packing in consumer packs or bulk packs where the crystallisation continues.

Provides a PLC controlled system to recover milk solids from water flushes and recover the product left in the pipelines. The plant cleaning is done automatically by the CIP system that utilises a combination of hot and cold water, alkali and acid.

The SCM plant supplied is completely computer controlled with remote monitoring. Can monitor the performance of the plant by using the normal telephone and internet facilities.