IDM ¦ Technology/IT
Robotised cheese ripening
warehouse: The taste of
the future
Brazzale installs high-tech cheese ripening system
In the Italian province of Vicenza, Brazzale, Italy's oldest familyrun
dairy company, started installing the first robotic ripening
warehouse for its Gran Moravia hard cheese, which is similar in
taste to its relatives Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano,
back in 2018. In June 2021, a new ripening warehouse near the
company's headquarters in Zanè was officially opened and put into
operation. It has a capacity of about 250,000 wheels of cheese.
"It is exciting to be pioneering this huge technological leap
that will allow us to ripen in conditions that were previously unthinkable.
We have complete visibility of every cheese from production
to ripening to storage removal,“ explains co-managing
director Roberto Brazzale. „Tradition is a process that is not only
about preserving what has gone before, but also about what each
generation does better by abandoning what is outdated. We al-
26 · March/April 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com
Robot technology characterises the new warehouse of
Italian cheese producer Brazzale (Photo: Brazzale)
ways want to be at least 10 years ahead to serve consumers better.
Tradition and innovation meet at our company.“
€20 million investment
€20 million went into the new ripening centre in Sant' Agata Cogollo
del Cengio. Up to now, Brazzale has been ripening in 14
warehouses in northern Italy. By concentrating on the new location,
200,000 km of transport will be saved per year. The workforce
will be newly qualified, and energy and rental costs will be
eliminated. However, it is not only the savings that make the new
ripening warehouse important for Brazzale. Above all, it is the control
of all ripening processes in relation to each individual cheese
wheel. As is well known, ripening is a key phase in giving Italian
hard cheese its typical and distinctive character. Every day, 20,000
loaves enter the warehouse and are individually inspected and
/international-dairy.com
