In 2006 the new production facility of Granarolo in Pasturago (Milan) has started its production of yoghurt and fresh milk. GEA Procomac Packaging has supplied 6 Pressus high level infeed palletiser, coupled with a single Pressus palettiser, in the yoghurt production division; new conveyors systems and the overhaul and increase of the 3 existing robot palletisation islands for the fresh milk division.

Granarolo is one of the leading Italian food companies. Established in 1959 by a small cooperative in Bologna, it has become a large dairy company and the 4th food company in Italy.
At the end of 2006 the new Production facility of Granarolo group in Pasturago near Milan has started its production of yoghurt (brand Yomo) and fresh milk. The acquisition of this production facility, formerly operated by Yomo, a historical Italian dairy company, allowed to realize the project for the creation of a modern production pole, one of the biggest in Italy. This project provided an extensive overhaul of the existing facility, the supply of new plants, the transfer of all the production units from the facility of Centrale del latte of Milan, the integration with the existing one and the optimisation of the yoghurt production line.
Mr. Migliori, Director of Operations of Granarolo Group, and Mr. Sonnante, Technical Director of Granarolo Group, have agreed to illustrate some details about this project.

Can you tell us how the need to create a new production pole arose and describe the interventions carried out in Pasturago and what results are expected?
The necessity to overhaul the historical Yomo facility arose when we had to leave the historical plant of Centrale del latte of Milan based in Milan via Castelbarco. Then Granarolo changed its industrial policy and instead to built a new facility in Locate Triulzi decided to transfer the entire production of fresh milk of Centrale del latte of Milan from the production site in Milan to Pasturago. To achieve this goal, Granarolo Operations Direction has planned an expansion and overhauling activity that covers all aspects of the Pasturago facility. First of all, 8000 square meters of new buildings have been added to the structure. We installed 40 new tanks for raw milk and pasteurised milk storage and a completely automatic milk feeding and pasteurising system with state of the art technology, probably the most advanced installation of its kind in Italy. We also had to empower the utilities supply system (power, water, cold water, air, steam). We transferred the fresh milk bottling lines, one of those for the bottling in PET was supplied by GEA Procomac SpA, from Centrale del Latte of Milan to Pasturago and deployed new palletising systems with robot palletisers from GEA Procomac Packaging, guaranteeing the plant engineering continuity with the facility of Centrale del Latte of Milan.
As regards the existing Yomo yogurt production plant, we added six new high loading palletisers from GEA Procomac Packaging (Collecchio, Italy) to obtain an optimised and flexible end-of-the-line, that can cope with the most stringent requirements from our logistic and distribution departments.

Granarolo and GEA Procomac Packaging boast a long lasting collaboration relationship that started with the first supply of a robotised palletising system for the facility in Bologna. In this case can we talk about winning synergy? What are reasons behind these solid relations?
Ever since the first supply for the facility in Bologna we were able to appreciate the reliability of the machines and the quick feedback from the after sales service assistance. As a matter of fact, the assistance was limited to only routine maintenance. For this reason Granarolo "exported" this positive experience also when the Centrale del Latte of Milan needed a modernisation of its palletising systems.

"Innovation from the beginning" quotes Granarolo Web site. One of Granarolo's missions is to invest in new technology to improve production efficiency and working conditions. What kind of relationship do you look for as far as suppliers are concerned? And what future challenges are ahead for Granarolo Group?
Innovation is for Granarolo one of the main reasons for success and it is imperative for us to create long-lasting relationships with our main suppliers. We aim to establish with them a continuous exchange of information that allows both parties to advance their technology. Granarolo not only positively evaluates new technologies, but urges all its suppliers to develop new ways of obtaining better products. As regards the new challenges ahead, I can simply affirm that our work of every day ultimately aims to put Granarolo in first place, for the quality and freshness of our products and for the pleasure of our customers.

The Granarolo Group

The brand Granarolo was introduced in the sixties and is one of the few dairy brands that is distributed all over Italy. The growing strategy of Granarolo is based on the acquisition of local dairy companies to capitalise on local sales potential and product variety; Granarolo can deploy its logistic network to fully accomplish their sales potential. Nowadays Granarolo can count on an extended network of dairy brands recognized for their innovation capability and for the quality throughout their range of products: Centrale del latte di Milano, Prima natura, Latte Accadì, Perla, Vogliazzi, Yogolat, Centrale del latte di Cosenza, Alto Lazio, Verbano, Pizzeria. In June 2004 Granarolo has acquired the activities of Yomo, a well-known Italian Company specialised in the yoghurt segment.

GEA Procomac Packaging supply

GEA Procomac Packaging has supplied machines for two different divisions within the Pasturago facility: in the yoghurt production division, there are 6 Pressus palletiser models installed, with single high level product infeed, coupled with a single Pressus palettiser. Since the machine structure is very compact it is particularly suitable for those facilities with restricted space availability. The solution adopted in this case, moreover allows to use and to better rationalise the existing production space, since each couple of palletisers is fed by just one pallet infeed unit.
The mobile high level product infeed guarantees, superior service reliability and performance continuity, as well as simplicity in terms of use.
For the fresh milk division, GEA Procomac Packaging supplied new air conveyor systems, bottle conveyors and pack conveyors and line automation to integrate the existing PET line, recovery, overhaul and increase of the 3 existing robot palletisation islands and a supply of new pallet conveyors.