Almarai adds capacity in Saudi Arabia

GEA has completed Almarai Company in Saudi Arabia’s new dairy processing facility. The new plant at Al Kharj is said to include multiple production lines for a wide range of milk and yogurt products. It has the capacity to process two million litres of milk a day. The project has already been successfully completed and the plant is in operation.

Key features of the plant at Al Kharj include GEA separators with integrated direct drive that have fewer moving parts and so reduce friction losses. They also use asynchronous motors that are extremely robust for maximum machine availability. To reduce the environmental impact and energy consumption, the plant is equipped with GEA’s latest energy recovery technology.

Furthermore, GEA has built in the control systems and operating protocols in line with Industry 4.0. These include the interoperability of the equipment, the transparency of information, autonomous decision making where possible and the highest level of technical assistance. GEA’s Management Execution System captures data such as KPIs and utilisation levels to allow comprehensive monitoring of the entire plant operations and energy usage. The plant also features end-to-end track and trace for ultimate quality control and a plant-wide uninterruptable power supply.

Torben Jul Jensen, regional sales director for dairy, beverage and food solutions at GEA Middle East, says that despite GEA’s experience in building similar dairy plants worldwide, the Al Kharj plant did pose some specific challenges, especially in the final commissioning phase. “However, everyone involved in the project, including all the Almarai stakeholders, worked well together to bring the project in on time.

“It was so hot that we had a midday ban during the peak summer season, however, by working together as a collective team side by side with Almarai the project was delivered successfully.”

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