Increase Profitability in Mixing Processes

Accurate Content Percentage in Yogurt Production

Plant Name:     Fresh Milk Product Manufacturer
Industry:           Food and Beverage
Product(s):       Various yogurts and other milk products

Application

Across several facilities, worldwide, this manufacturer produces fresh milk products, including many varieties of fruit yogurts with flavors such as strawberry, vanilla, raspberry, and forest fruit. The final production step consists of mixing the white yogurt with the corresponding fruit pulp, whereby the desired percentage of fruit content is determined using a recipe. This portion is, on average, 10–12% of the final yogurt’s volume.
The amount of white yogurt is measured before mixing. Based on this measurement, the amount of fruit pulp to be added is calculated. However, pieces of fruit in the fruit pulp lead to short-term fluctuations in the quantity display of the magnetic flowmeters. Those result in a deviation of the final yogurt’s fruit content percentage. Larger pieces of fruit lead to larger fluctuations. Generally, these fluctuations remain within a tolerable range, so that the automatic mixing is not disturbed.  

Challenges

In most cases, there are few issues with mixing, except when it comes to mixing yogurt with cherries. In this case, fluctuations of 10% or more can occur. Instrumentation suppliers had failed to provide a solution for reducing the measurement fluctuations to an extent that enabled the automatic mixing of cherry yogurt. This inconsistency was not acceptable to the company’s quality management system and needed to be addressed.

Solution

Yokogawa sales representatives approached the customer with the ADMAG Total Insight (TI) AXG magmeter. As this technology is distinguished from other magmeters by its dual-frequency excitation method, the Yokogawa team firmly believed that it could achieve improved results and convinced the customer to try a test application with an ADMAG TI-AXG.

The reliable accuracy of the AXG magmeter is a result of Yokogawa’s proprietary, dual-frequency excitation method, which combines traditional high/low-frequency excitation methods to ensure greater stability and quicker response even if noise or other problems are present in the line. With this unique design, the noise fluctuations caused by the cherry pieces were not issues for the AXG and the operator was able to accurately provide the correct fruit content percentage in the mixture.  

The customer was very pleased with the result, as it allows him to automatically mix yogurt with cherries, which was previously impossible due to the measurement deviations.

Key Advantages

• The improved noise immunity provided by the dual-frequency excitation results in fewer process upsets.
• Higher-quality product yield per batch increases profitability.
• Total Insight capabilities, including meter verification, advanced diagnostics, and offline trend analysis through a removable micro SD card decrease maintenance costs.