IDM | Site report
Fonterra’s Heerenveen plant has a peak processing capacity of 2.7 million litres of whey per day (photo: Rockwell Automation)
New dairy ingredients
plant for Fonterra
Integrated automation, motor control and process control solution
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a
multinational dairy co-operative, owned
by around 10,500 New Zealand farmers.
The company is responsible for approximately
30% of the world's dairy exports and
with revenues in excess of NZ$19.87 billion,
it is New Zealand's largest company and accounts
for 25% of the country’s total exports.
With a network of offices, productions
sites and technical centres across the globe,
it employs some 16,000 people in New Zealand
and around the world; collecting 22 billion
litres of milk annually in order to make
6 · 9 2017 | international-dairy.com
dairy products available to millions of consumers
in 140 countries.
The Heerenveen plant
The company has commissioned a new
dairy ingredients plant in Heerenveen (IDM
has published a site report in issue no. 11-
12, 2015), in the north of The Netherlands,
which is used to produce three variants of
lactose powder and a range of protein products.
This includes whey protein concentrate,
whey protein isolate and a lipid-rich
whey protein concentrate as well as several
specialty functional whey protein concentrate
powders for use in high-value paediatric,
maternal, and sports nutrition products.
Officially opened in July 2015, the new plant
is built on a 25 hectare site and has been developed
in partnership with leading Dutch
cheese manufacturer DOC Kaas – where the
Fonterra plant processes the whey originating
from the other plant’s cheese making process.
The plant is Fonterra’s first wholly owned and
operated ingredients plant in Europe. Peak
production will see the plant process up to 2.7
million litres of whey per day, with annual pro-