Chew Valley Dairy Triple Production Output

Exciting Moos! We recently completed our second installation of a shrink wrapping line into Chew Valley Dairy, located in the heart of Chew Valley, Bristol.

Chew Valley Dairy process milk from their own farms to supply stores, restaurants and caterers across the southwest region. They are also the supplier behind well-known Yeo Valley yoghurts, as well as butters, creams, eggs and bread. Predominantly supplying the London market, Chew Valley Dairy make daily milk deliveries to the capital and so their aim is to ensure their milks are processed, packaged and delivered in the shortest time possible. A family business with a reputation for fresh products, exemplary customer service and utmost hygiene standards, Chew Valley Dairy have become the byword for quality in the dairy industry.

Back in 2016, we supplied the company with a stainless steel wrapping line consisting of a semi-automatic sleeve sealer and shrink tunnel, to wrap 2 litre bottles of milk in 2×3 collations. This was a huge upgrade from the previous operation which involved manual packing of their milk bottles into crates.

After yet further increases in demand, overall growth and a concerted drive to increase capacity and efficiency, Chew Valley Dairy approached us for a second shrink wrapping line in November 2018. After investing in a new filling system to dispense the milk into the bottles, the dairy were finding that their shrink wrapping system needed to run faster than the semi-automatic system allowed for.

The SS140 fully automatic milk machine from our range was the ideal solution for Chew Valley. Supplied in full stainless steel, with low voltage electrics rated to IP66, the line is designed with the harsh dairy environment in mind and was fast enough to be fed directly from the filler. Our engineers installed the new equipment in March 2019 over the course of a weekend in order not to disrupt Chew Valley’s production schedules, and the entire line was delivered, installed and up and running ahead of schedule within 48 hours.

This recent addition of a fully automatic milk machine has reduced the dairy’s labour requirements by eliminating the need for manual handling from an operator. It has also tripled production as Chew Valley are now matching the speeds of the filling line and are achieving impressive outputs of around 70 bottles per minute.

Thomas Gay, managing director of Chew Valley Dairy commented:

We’ve experienced rapid growth in the last five years. To make this possible, we need suppliers we can rely on. YPS have so much experience in our sector, which makes them the only choice for our wrapping needs and the reason why we came back to them for a second line. We are even in discussions currently about a potential third machine.

Glyn Johnson, YPS managing director added:

It's been a pleasure to work with Chew Valley Dairy once again, especially in light of their growth and success. I’m pleased we’ve been able to help a fellow family business increase their productivity and efficiency and I hope we can work together again in the future.