How many of you are in the dairy industry?

[darrenj]

Just curious if there is anyone else out there in the dairy industry? There dosnt seem to be many..but then again i have only figured out what a few people here do...

D

 

[Gerry]

I'm familiar with it, but I've avoided it for the past 10 years.

 

[darrenj]

LOL!! Why?? something i dont know about yet?

 

[Gerry]

NZ has some of the world's largest dairy factories.
Example: one site processing 15,000,000 litres/day during the peak of the season.

Why?? something i dont know about yet?

They tend to run from late July to mid May. They plan large projects that have to be completed in the 6-8 weeks of off-season, demand fixed-price quotes to be submitted in typically 10 days or less, insist on contracts with penalty clauses, provide very minimal specification, and never issue orders earlier than about 1 month prior to factory shut. In spite of all that, there are more than enough bidders competing and they are ruthlessly exploited for their efforts.

I've found a much more convivial niche that also doesn't require working in gum-boots, white cover-alls, and funny hats.

 

[PhilipW]

Absolutely spot on Gerry. I did one services job for a major site about 5 years ago, and never again. Life is too short for that kind of insanity. The difficulty I encountered (and there are dozens of variations) was that about 50% of my project was a retrofit to an existing system....but as the job unfolded we kept "discovering" basic instrumentations and actuator faults, and major process design issues that they refused point blank to fix. All the responsibility was shoved onto me, on a fixed price, while they held about 15% of project retentions over my head.

All up a deeply unpleasant experience.

The problem in this country stems from the fact that in this country the industry is both very dominant and deeply incestuous. A handful of longterm players know just how to protect their position.

 

[CaseyK]

I am currently out of it, but may go back soon.

I think ther are two guys north of the cheddar curtain (IL-WISC border) that are involved.

regards.....kc

 

[scottmurphy]

I am in and out of it, I am a lot greener than most, that being that I spent 5 years out of this country, so managed to avoid it. I am on the tools when in the dairy industry here, I do agree with the Gerry & Phillip about the time frames & lack of information etc, I have just come back to finish of a project that wasn't completed due to lack of information, and nearly left again upon arrival due to lack of information, but managed to get over my 'I hate mondays' and get some answers out of people.


The dairy industry here does spend a lot of money, and they do have a lot of standards in place which would leave most to shame, saying that, some of them can be over the top and un-necassary, but generally pretty spot on.

Overalls have never been an issue for me, but the gumboots and hats tends to be a right pain in the proverbial, more so the time that is spent in and out of them, but that kind of procedure tends to cover any of the food industries.

 

[jolio ST]

I have never done a food processing project before and I hope I won't. Just pretty much a small joke here, I can just imagine the kind of boots people wear around in the plant. Adds life pretty much doesn't it?

regards
Sherine T.

 

[harryting]

I did a few dairy or dairy related project. In the US there are special regulation on diary production equipments. Usually the customers are cheap and work .. hard. The major difference I experienced is the different design of control valves, etc. Not to mention you can't insulate lines due to regulation... ==> OUCH THAT PIPE JUST BURNED MY SKIN OFF...

 

[jstolaruk]

Closest I got was building a couple of blow molding and flash trimming machines for milk jugs; they're placed in a room just off the fill area.

 

[jimbo3123]

NZ has some of the world's largest dairy factories.
Example: one site processing 15,000,000 litres/day during the peak of the season.



They tend to run from late July to mid May. They plan large projects that have to be completed in the 6-8 weeks of off-season, demand fixed-price quotes to be submitted in typically 10 days or less, insist on contracts with penalty clauses, provide very minimal specification, and never issue orders earlier than about 1 month prior to factory shut. In spite of all that, there are more than enough bidders competing and they are ruthlessly exploited for their efforts.

I've found a much more convivial niche that also doesn't require working in gum-boots, white cover-alls, and funny hats.

Ha, that sounds a lot like the automobile industry these days.

 

[bythatmuch]

Darren,
been in it for the last 15 yrs. No money but plenty of travel and unpaid overtime

 

[Rube]

My family used to own a small dairy--then we got smart and sold it.