SubscribeYili installs SIG Combibloc's flexible filling machine technology in its ultramodern production plant for dairy products
One of the most modern Asian production plants for dairy products is the Yili Jin Chuan Plant, which is operated by Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. Ltd. in the Huhhot Industrial Park in Inner Mongolia, China.
In the course of this ambitious project, China's leading dairy company decided to equip the plant with SIG Combibloc's filling machine technology. SIG Combibloc consequently delivered a total of 14 CFA-712 high-speed filling machines, each with an output of 12,000 aseptically filled carton packs per hour.
Left: One of the most modern Asian production plants for dairy products is the Yili Jin Chuan Plant, which is operated by Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. Ltd. in the Huhhot Industrial Park in Inner Mongolia, China. In the course of this ambitious project, China's leading dairy company decided to equip the plant with SIG Combibloc's filling machine technology. SIG Combibloc consequently delivered a total of 14 CFA - 712 high-speed filling machines.
In July 2005, the first filling machine started operation in one of China's largest production plants for liquid dairy products, covering an area of some 200,000 square metres. All 14 filling units have been fully operational since the beginning of 2006.
Currently, the production focus of the new modern plant is on pure milk, milk prod-ucts and yoghurt drinks, filled in combiblocSmall, 200 ml and 250 ml. The filling machines as well as the downstream equipment such as drinking straw applicators, multipackers, multishrinkers, traypackers and palletisers are installed in horizontal lines, ensuring optimum use of floor space, maximum efficiency and maximum out-put.
Over the past decade, the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. Ltd. has gone from being a small player in the regional marketplace to becoming China's leading dairy enterprise. They are primarily active in the five segments liquid milk, ice cream, powdered milk, yoghurt and raw milk. Operating in the slipstream of China's unprecedented economic growth and the consequent surge in revenues, Yili has succeeded in steadily expanding its market share. With a core business turnover of about 1.5 billion US dollars in 2005 - an increase of almost 40 percent over the pre-ceding year - Yili continues to be a leader in China's dairy market.
Right: Currently, the production focus of the new modern plant is on pure milk , milk products and yoghurt drinks, aseptically filled in combiblocSmall, 200ml and 250 ml.
"Quality has always been our primary concern," says Mr. Zhang Jianqiu, Assistant President and official press spokesman of the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group. Not surprisingly, in 1998 Yili was China's first dairy enterprise to obtain the ISO 9002 certification and in 2003 ISO 14000 followed suit.
In 2002, it was also the first dairy products company in the nation to implement the HACCP system. "The SIG Combibloc packaging system is an important factor in helping us to meet our quality demands. It was the advanced technology of the filling machines and the high quality packaging material that convinced us to install the SIG Combibloc system in our state-of-the-art plant for liquid dairy products in Inner Mongolia."
Successful partnership
The successful partnership between Yili and SIG Combibloc started in 2003 when the first CFA-510 filling machine was installed in Yili's Duerbot plant in Heilongjiang Province. This allowed Yili to launch its pure milk in the 1,000 ml combibloc Standard.
Shortly afterwards, the decision was taken to fill pure milk in the 500 ml carton pack in order to take advantage of the volume flexibility of the SIG Combibloc filling machines and to expand Yili's product range to best meet Chinese consumer needs. Today the partnership sees SIG Combibloc filling machines, both for family size as well as for single serve products, in six Yili production plants in China.
June 2006