IDM ¦ Technology/IT
Perfect cleaning
Bottle washing machines for Oberweis Dairy
What has only been celebrating
a revival in
Germany and Europe
for a few months, the
returnable glass bottle
for high-quality milk and glasses for yoghurts,
has long been a mega-trend in the
USA. The Swiss specialist for bottle washers,
PAC Global, has already delivered its second
machine to the USA. The customer is "Oberweis
Dairy" in North Aurora, Illinois.
Over 90 years Oberweis Dairy
The history of the dairy began in 1927 with
Peter Oberweis in Kane County, Illinois, who
sold his excellent milk in the area with a
horse-drawn cart. Oberweis invested, built a
dairy in North Aurora, his son Joe and since
1986 his brother John expanded the business
in several States with milk, dairy products,
ice cream, yogurt and cheese. Since
2007 Joe Oberweis has been managing the
company, which now includes a hamburger
and pizza chain in addition to numerous
"milk and ice cream stores".
For a long time now, the dairy has
been relying on returnable glass bottles
in various sizes for its milk, especially for
premium and organic products. Oberweis
uses its cult bottle with half a gallon content
(around 1,900 ml) for household deliveries,
which are still widespread in the
US. This milk, the dairy emphasises, comes
without exception from small family farms
with 40 to 300 happy cows, is only heated
very gently and processed without any additives.
The animals grow up absolutely
without hormones or medication, the milk
arrives, emphasises the dairy, almost always
bottled just 36 hours after milking on the
customers' doorstep. "For this enormously
high quality of our milk there is only the
glass bottle, no plastic or cardboard. Only
in glass does the milk stay fresh and cool
for a long time, tasting equally good from
the first to the last glass," emphasises Marty
Rodriguez, Director of Operations and
Quality of Oberweis in Chicago.
The specialist for bottle
cleaning
Two filling lines for glass bottles run in the
main Oberweis plant, one for smaller bottles,
the other for half-gallon bottles. For this line,
the bottle washing machine was replaced
because the company was no longer satisfied
with the quality of the old machine. The
decision for a new line was made for a "CB
9-1.89-RV-10.6 Mi ng" from Swiss specialist
PAC Global. Günther Zimmerman founded
this company in 1981 and was the first manufacturer
of bottle washing machines which
are completely made of stainless steel and
strongly insulated hot zones. In the course
of 40 years of experience, the systems have
been further developed. Today, the machines
are energy-efficient and optimised, so that
they work in a resource-saving manner and
comply with the sustainability principle: Perfect
cleaning performance, low energy consumption,
decades of service life, compact
design and service friendliness.
PAC Global's customers are primarily
breweries, but also mineral springs, mineral
water plants, wineries and dairies in
Europe, Asia and North America. The series
machine programme starts at 1,800 bottles
per hour and extends to 12,000 bottles
per hour, specifically designed for mediumsized
companies.
For the front door delivery to households, which is widespread in the USA, Oberweis
Dairy uses its half-gallon cult bottle. For owner Joe Oberweis, premium milk can only
be filled in glass, so he needs the appropriate cleaning machine (Photo: PAC Global)
36 · November/December 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com
/international-dairy.com
