Tirol Milch: Wörgl now the centre of cheese production
- Tripling of the existing production capacity
- Integrated production
- New quality and energy management standards
- Post-quota outlook
Wörgl, 17 June 2014. - The Tirol Milch plant in Wörgl has dramatically increased its cheese production in particular over the past few months. The company invested a total of nearly € 30 million in new construction and expansion efforts for its cheese production. The expansion project brought the latest in cutting-edge technology to the Tyrolean cheese plant in Wörgl, reports Josef Braunshofer, CEO of Berglandmilch eGen.
The new, ultramodern dairy has been operating at full capacity since mid-May, tripling cheese production capacity at the Wörgl facility. Broken down into numbers, this results in an annual production capacity of close to 30,000 tonnes of cheese.
"This makes the Tyrolean cheese plant in Wörgl Austria’s second largest dairy after our facility in the Upper Austrian city of Feldkirchen,” says Josef Braunshofer.
"We focused our investments on equipment that would boost cheese production, including new cheese vats, cheese presses, brine baths and bulk packaging. These modern facilities are housed in the plant’s new extension, which was designed to meet the highest standards in technology and energy management,” says Johann Schneeberger, Chairman of the Berglandmilch Group.
"Tirol Milch is able to significantly reduce water and power consumption thanks to modern control and conveying technology, along with new, resource-saving equipment. Moreover, the cheese production facility expansion underscores our commitment to maintaining the highest possible hygiene standards,” adds Josef Braunshofer.
Sustainability
Sustainability is more than a catchphrase for the Berglandmilch Group; it is a guiding principle that we all live by and that is reflected in every one of our company’s business decisions. The Berglandmilch Group is committed to using energy in a way that conserves resources. In addition to the financial aspects involved, careful and economical use of all sources of energy is an integral part of the Berglandmilch Group corporate culture.
Berglandmilch has been powered exclusively by green hydroelectricity since May 2013.
Tirol Milch/Berlgandmilch will soon be making its waste heat available to the Wörgl municipal utilities. This is heat that is generated during the production process at the Wörgl plant. Additional municipal power demands can be met through the use of heat from the company’s own biomass wood chip heating system. The heat is converted into clean usable energy and then fed into the district heating supply grid. This translates into a volume ofover 20,000 MWh per year, notes Josef Braunshofer.
Post-quota outlook
In many areas of agricultural production, there is a great deal of confusion surrounding limited production quotas and self-imposed restrictions. But for the European dairy industry, the standards have been clear for decades. The quota system brought order to the market. Nevertheless, Johann Schneeberger noticed that as a result of recent policy decisions in Europe, this form of quantity regulation no longer had a decisive impact on pricing. This is because the sum of the quotas awarded is now much higher than the EU is capable of supplying. Consequently, under-deliveries on the part of individual member states no longer have a major impact because there is still export demand outside the EU in what are known as third countries.
"This means that anyone in charge of running a major food processing business must ensure that their company is prepared to deal with these changes well in advance,” says Chairman Schneeberger.
We are anticipating a slight increase in milk compared to the past, which is why we have invested a great deal in our processing capacity in recent years. This will ensure that we are equipped to handle the quota phase-out when the time comes, Chairman Schneeberger reports. As a cooperative it has always been - and always will be - our duty to accept every litre of milk our members deliver to us and to process and refine it into the highest quality products we can provide, says CEO Josef Braunshofer.
Key figures for the Berglandmilch Group and its subsidiaries in 2013
- Revenue: 900 million
- Employees: approx. 1,600
- Amount of milk processed: 1,247 million kg
- Export quota: approx. 40%
- Production facilities (incl. Alpi Ried): 13
- Milk suppliers: approx. 13,450
