California Dairies' Equipment Upgrade Will Boost Its Appeal In The Global Market
By Alec Italiano, contributing writer
The installation of a new evaporator has allowed the dairy producer to meet tighter export specifications
The largest dairy processing cooperative in California got a little bit bigger after announcing the installation of an additional evaporator at its Visalia plant in late February. This will be California Dairies’ (CDI) third evaporator at the plant and will increase processing capacity to garner more attention in the global market. It has been a strategic goal of the company to expand its relationship with international customers, and with the evaporator planned to be online by Feb 2016, its global presence will be upgraded to the point of attracting those international customers.
“Management continues to look for new ways to add value to its member-owners’ milk through the expansion and improvement of its assets and product offerings,” says Andrei Mikhalevsky, CEO. “The addition of a new evaporator combines increased capacity and improved capabilities to offer CDI the flexibility to adjust product portfolios as market demands shift, which will grow market share and maximize member-owner profits.”
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Built in 2007, the Visalia plant is one of six plants in the company’s portfolio. The plant is already home to the largest single evaporator-dryer in North America, and with the third evaporator installed, this will give California Dairies the means to meet tight export specifications on milk powders made more valuable at a global level.
California Dairies produces 9 percent of all milk in the U.S. and 43 percent of milk in California. In addition to liquid milk, company also produces butter and milk powder products. The company is co-owned by 430 California dairy producers, making 18 billion pounds of milk annually. This generates more than $3 billion in annual sales.
It goes without saying there are enormous benefits of entering the international market in today’s global economy. California Dairies’ latest capital investment will be essential in climbing back into the market after revenues dipped slightly in the last few years.