Four power events per year cost the dairy $200,000, but power protection equipment has eliminated the interruptions.
Power interruptions and brownouts (sags) are costly, even if it’s just one per year. And when there’s more than one on average, it’s time to find a solution. Leading multinational dairy manufacturer Fonterra estimated power interruptions were costing as much as $200,000 per year, just in lost production time, at its New Zealand facility in Takanini, Auckland. It needed a power protection solution for the site’s new automated processing and packaging lines.
Globally, Fonterra produces more than 22 billion liters of milk each year; the Takanini facility packages 750,000 liters of fresh milk each day at a rate of 6.4 bottles per second. To meet growing demand in the global UHT (ultra-high-temperature pasteurization) market, the facility expanded and upgraded its UHT processing and packing equipment. With an expansion in production, however, comes increased power usage. The facility now uses 109 megawatts of power per day, which is mainly drawn by the large AC drives and motors used in the facility’s production lines.