Dairy Plant Design and Layout

Milk processing plants, converting raw milk into processed milk and /or milk products are usually termed as dairy plant or simply dairies. Numbers of unit operations are carried out to transform raw milk into value added finished products,employing all sorts of resources like raw ingredients, utilities (water, air, electricity,

refrigeration, steam and waste treatment etc.), plant - machinery and human resource. All these resources are housed in one or more buildings located in campus. In order to optimize the economy of interactions between these housings and various resources, the various factors need to be considered in the planning

stage. A good planning, therefore, helps in smooth flow of resources towards effective operations to create hygienic atmosphere during production at one hand and economy of operation and value addition on the other.

In our country less than 15% of total milk production is processed in dairy plant in organized sector. Rest is either consumed at home or used in unorganized production centers like sweet makers. Most of the plants are underutilized.Especially during lean period the capacity utilization goes further down. Operation of unnecessary larger size plants and equipment becomes uneconomical due to more expenses for their operation along with other overheads, which depends on size and capacity of the plant and equipments. In this way, improperly design dairy plants require higher investment and working capital. Therefore, various

factors that are relevant to design and layout of dairy plant, must be looked into.