introduction strategy of the company 2
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- INPUTS AND SUPPLY CHAIN PROCESS
CAPACITY DESIGNThe world consumes over 500 million tons of dairy product each year and one of the largest players is Almarai’s massive factory in (KSA). In this mega factory milk get bottled by millions but it’s not just milk, yogurts, cheeses, and juices fly through the massive production lines. This factory is proactive assuming with high-tech equipment. The equivalent of 10 million glasses of milk is produced in this factory each and every day and in order to do those 135,000 cows are milked daily. On average one cow in this giant heard produces over 13,000 liters of raw milk annually. Amazingly all of this happens in the desert of KSA. The main farms and processing facilities are located in Al kharj, roughly 80km southeast of the capital Riyadh. In 1977 Almarai started processing fresh milk they began with 300 cows, today the herd is 450 times that size. Once the processing operation is centralized two massive 268,000 square meter factories shoulder the daily load. Feeding into those factories is milk from 6 super farms covering over 82km of the surrounding desert. INPUTS AND SUPPLY CHAIN PROCESSSupply chain is the end-to-end process of transporting and storing supplies. There is one type of input that this company use to produce the best quality of dairy products which is Holstein cows. Holsteins descended from Holland and were exported around the world due to their high milking rate. The herd at Almarai are able to produce more milk than other breeds of cattle, and in order for the company to be able to achieve the yields that they do in the 6 mega farms. These cows have to be well-fed, given lots of water, and kept comfortable as if they are the company’s own pets to help with milk production. These cows produce 2.5 million litter of milk every day. However, before they can produce milk, they need to give birth. With no males in the farms artificial insemination is used to impregnate the females. Over 200 calves are born in these farms each and every day. Because of the volume the company have a veterinary unit with staff of 30 that serve as bovine midwives. Each day’s newborns stay together in holding pens to be looked after, then moved into growing areas. Daily in the next two years these calves will be fed a diet filled with protein to help them grow. First process that should be done before milking the cows, is to feed them. Cows at different ages are fed unique diets to maximize their growth. The herd eat four times a day and it’s a massive challenge to feed them. So, 12 giant mixing machine churn out 1200 tons of feed daily, 1 mixer takes 8 minutes to blend enough for a single meal for 600 cows. Each day 340 tons of alfalfa is brought and processed in the mixers. Alfalfa is mixed with cottonseed, maize, soyabean, and cornflakes; the exact proportions is the company’s secret which is based on years of diet research. As these mixes are turn to feed, a fleet of 45 trucks are ready to transport it to thousands of hungry cows. Second, once the cows are feed, they head to be cleaned. A nine-minute automated cow wash make sure manure and any bacteria is removed. As they move towards the milking parlor a series of pipes blow air towards the udders to dry them, a damp odor increases the chances that bacteria infect the sterile milking machine. Finally, the cows head to the milking parlor. Here at the mega farm, its milking time, using an automatic system they can extract the milk at lightening speeds. In this parlor 300 cows can be milked at a time; this process takes place 4 times a day and runs for 6 hours. With so many cows it’s important that non is forgotten about, each cow has a microchip in its left leg that tracks its every move to a controller which also monitor its performance. Directly underneath the milking area all of the pumped milk is first filtered through series of valves, to clear any debris. Then it travels along a sterile pipe to a holding area, where it’s chilled to 3 degrees Celsius so no microorganisms can grow. At the end the chilled milk is pumped into 4 steel holding silos ready for transport. Within hours it’s loaded onto refrigerated tankers that can hold 30,000 liters. Everyday up to 80 tankers deliver raw milk into the loading base. Once the tanks are loaded its 30km journey to the 2 processing plants and this is where the real action begins. Download 27.81 Kb. Share with your friends:
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