​​​​​​​​Changing the game in Saudi Arabia

Safety and quality combined with the highest efficiency are of the utmost importance when producing a staple product such as plain UHT (long life) milk. That is why Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff Company (Sadafco) is always on the lookout for new and innovative solutions. The company is the leading player in the UHT milk market in Saudi Arabia, with the Saudia brand capturing 55 per cent of the domestic market. “We are efficiency-driven,” says Raffael Reinders, director manufacturing at Sadafco. “We are always using the latest technology and that gives us a competitive advantage,” he says.

​​​Dairy farms are rare in Saudi Arabia, so Sadafco is producing recombined UHT milk. The imported milk powder is a large cost for the producer, which puts a constant focus on keeping all other costs down. In the traditional batch production process, skim milk powder is mixed with water at a mixing station and sent to a tank, and then pasteurized and standardized. Milk with a different fat content is stored in intermediate tanks before it is UHT treated. The process demands heavy investment in equipment, is time-consuming and significant product losses are difficult to avoid. But what if the process could be simplified? “We wanted to eliminate the pasteurization step and also take the human factor out of the process,” explains Reinders. As the saying goes, “if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

Read more and find out how how Sadafco managed to shorten the process time and automate the process​ in customer case Changing the game​​ (pdf)