The new TNUVA Eilon Tavor Dairy in ISRAEL

Tuchenhagen Dairy Systems ( GEA TDS) is in the final commissioning stage of a new green-field dairy for TNUVA, the largest dairy company in Israel. The purchase order placed in late 1999 required TDS to design, install and commission the process plant for cultured dairy products inside a two story building containing storage silos and tanks, cheese vats, CIP depots, pasteurizers / thermizers as well as separators / clarifiers. This equipment is linked together by more than 80 km of stainless steel pipe and 7.000 plus automated Tuchenhagen valves all on a 30 hectare site at the foot of Mt Tavor in Northern Israel, approximately 12 kilometres from Nazareth. 

The innovative highlight of the design is the automation system with all operations initiated on screens located in a central control room. The very complex process is controlled by OTAS-4 Plant, TDS/GEA's parametrical technology software, based on Siemens S7 PLCs and Intouch visualisation software. There are more than 30.000 digital and analogue inputs/outputs as well as BUS communication to 25 external machine control systems, all had to be designed, programmed and commissioned before production started on 17th August 2003.

This new dairy plant represents the largest and most technologically advanced dairy project ever undertaken by TDS especially as it had to incorporate kosher rules throughout the process. The TDS designers also had to take into consideration special Israeli environmental requirements such as strictly minimizing product losses, saving water, reducing sodium levels in the effluent and a requirement of the client to minimize the level of operators needed in this huge dairy.

At the end of this December, when all new plant has been commissioned and product running steadily and consistently, TNUVA will close down their Haifa and Tel Aviv plants and TDS will be required to install a designated scope of re-used equipment into the new dairy to supplement the new systems. The first dairy in Haifa is scheduled to be closed in January followed by Tel Aviv in March.

Read complete article in EDM 1/2004