IDM ¦ Site report
Much more whey
Fonterra Manufacturing Europe increased capacities
of the Heerenveen plant
To be able to process whey from
the new Mozzarella production
at A-ware in Heerenveen, the
Netherlands, Fonterra’s European
plant that is located right
beside the A-ware cheese factory had to
increase capacities. With a € 10 Mio. investment,
a new building was erected on top of
the existing production which now houses
a membrane filtration plant supplied by
ALPMA/LTH.
IDM had the exclusive chance to visit the
new premises. Fonterra and A-ware have
been partnering in whey utilization since
8 · June/July 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com
2015 in the industrial estate of Heerenveen.
Initially, this agreement covered whey from
semi-hard cheese making. When A-ware
decided to enter the growing Mozzarella
market, large-style of manufacturing capacity,
Fonterra simply had to pull right away to
cope with a massive flow of new whey.
“We knew exactly the time when the additional
whey would have to be processed and
prepared accordingly,” explains Diana Krabbe,
General Manager Operations Fonterra Europe
& Africa. “But the process itself was quite difficult
as everything had to be done right in time
and as we had to integrate the new capacities
into the existing processing environment without
interruption”.
Suppliers presented
individual solutions
Fonterra opened a tender for suppliers in
which it thoroughly specified all requirements
in detail. Participating suppliers had to present
their individual turnkey solutions. Fonterra
then decided on the basis of the quality of the
proposed solutions and CAPEX aspects. The
team that did the job of selection consisted
out of specialists from a number of fields such
as QA, processing, engineering etc. In the
The turnkey project supplied by ALPMA/LTH encompassed not only the RO plant,
but also automation (for which long-term partner Beenen was subcontracted)
and a CIP solution (photo: IDM)
Fonterra plant
in Heerenveen, NL
Fonterra opened the plant in Heerenveen,
the Netherlands, at the end of 2014. It
was built in a whole-through-the-wall
way to process all whey coming from the
neighboring cheese factory operated by
A-ware. The Fonterra plant processes only
sweet whey from semi-hard cheese as well
as Mozzarella whey. The portfolio is WPC
80, WPI and functional WPC‘s for infant
formula, sports nutrition and medical applications.
Most of the products are sold in
dry form but Fonterra can supply their B2B
customers also with whey concentrates
of >28% dry matter. Since the start of the
factory, Fonterra increases production
capacity and product portfolio ongoing.
Products manufactured in Heerenveen are
of superb quality. The whey arriving at the
plant has passed a bactofuge for additional
safety and will almost inline processed.
/international-dairy.com
