SPX Corporation on May 21 announced that its Flow Technology segment has been awarded a contract valued at over $10 million to custom design and install a fully automated, continuous margarine and butter processing system at the new Tine Jaeren plant in southwest Norway. The system will utilize the technology of Gerstenberg Schroder, which SPX acquired earlier this year.
The new facility is being constructed by Tine BA, Norway's largest producer, distributor and exporter of dairy products. Founded in 1928, Tine is a dairy product cooperative consisting of more than 15,000 farmers and produces a wide spectrum of dairy products, including Jarlsberg cheese, Snofrisk goat cheese and Ridder cheese.
SPX Flow Technology manufactures, engineers and installs components and turnkey solutions for the global food processing industry, leveraging its core product lines, including APV, Waukesha Cherry-Burrell and Gerstenberg Schroder. The fully automated system will be designed to enable Tine to continuously process both butter and margarine spreads in the same production facility. In addition, the system will be configured to deliver environmental benefits through low water and energy consumption.
"Tine is a leading European dairy producer and a valuable addition to SPX's growing roster of global food and beverage customers," said Don Canterna, SPX segment president. "With our strong expertise in designing food processing plants around the world, especially in the dairy sector, we look forward to continuing to broaden our presence in this market."
Gerstenberg Schroder's end-to-end processing system will be designed to enable Tine to minimize the operational water consumption on the butter maker. The system will be built to capture most of the fluids used during the cleaning in place process, and thus reduce the costs and disruption of the disposal process versus systems that do not capture most fluids. Fluids will be preconditioned to the temperature required for the cleaning which can result in a reduction of cleaning time. These features, along with the fact that the electric motors are often controlled by a frequency converter, are expected to help minimize the plant's overall energy consumption.
"This contract also helps demonstrate and validate the added value Gerstenberg Schroder brings to the SPX portfolio of food processing offerings and capabilities," said Ken Rodi, president, Flow Technology EMEA.
In January 2010, SPX announced the strategic acquisition of Gerstenberg Schroder to broaden and strengthen the company's global food processing technology, equipment offerings and systems capabilities. Based in Denmark, Gerstenberg Schroder is a prominent designer, manufacturer, installer and service provider of processing systems and components serving the global food industry. The company's heritage of food industry expertise dates back to the early 1900s.
About SPX
SPX Corporation is a Fortune 500 multi-industry manufacturing leader that provides its customers with highly-specialized, engineered solutions to solve critical business issues. SPX products and technologies play an important role in the expansion of global infrastructure to help meet increased demand for power and energy and support many different sources of power generation, including coal and natural gas, nuclear, solar and geothermal. The company's innovative product portfolio, containing many energy efficient products, includes cooling systems for power plants throughout the world; highly advanced food processing components and turnkey, scalable systems serving the global food and beverage industry; process equipment that assists a variety of flow processes including oil and gas exploration, distribution and refinement and power generation; handheld diagnostic tools that aid in vehicle maintenance and repair; and power transformers that allow utility companies to regulate electric voltage, transmission and distribution. With headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., SPX has 15,000 employees in more than 35 countries worldwide.