Creating Added Value with X-Ray Technology

X-ray systems secure the product quality and improve the production sequences at the Bavarian company Privatmolkerei Bechtel.

- Georg Hubner

FROM A SMALL BROOK TO A LARGE RIVER

The picturesque Naab meanders gently through the Upper Palatinate. It grows from a brook to a river over its course from the source near Weiden to where it flows into the Danube near Regensburg. The Schwarzenfeldbased Privatmolkerei Bechtel has also grown from modest beginnings into a large company in the 110 years of its history. Managing director René Guhl is the head of the family company in the fourth generation. Over one million liters of milk are processed daily at the constantly expanding company headquarters. The main products are yoghurt, liquid milk and cream cheese. Production runs 365 days a year in a four shift system.

CHALLENGING PRODUCTION PROCESS

The processing of raw milk into consumer products consists of complex steps. Products such as quark, hard cheese, drinking milk or butter are produced by means of separators, butter churning machines, milk pasteurizers, filling and packing machines and many more besides. The individual process sequences differ with each end product. The mixture of manual work and the use of machinery is a further challenging feature of the manufacture of milk products.