From Lost
Business to 
Plant Expansion

This isn’t your average success story. In fact, it starts with failure.

In 2017, we lost one of our cheese factory clients. How’s that for being honest? We didn’t align with the client’s needs and goals, so they turned to a competitor.

Since then, we’ve not only regained this cheese factory client but we’ve helped them work through a complicated efficiency issue, are actively optimizing their production line, AND we’re helping them with a new expansion project.

Investing in a past client

Back in 2022, Separator’s Travis Szczesniak, Regional Sales Manager, reached out to our former cheese factory client (let’s call them Good Cheese) to talk through what had happened back in 2017 that drove the factory to find a different centrifuge service partner. The conversation helped bring light to some of the partnership issues Good Cheese experienced, while also giving us insight into some of the factory's current efficiency issues — specifically, fat percentages.

Around this same time, Travis enrolled in a 10-week course focused on dairy processing. For the program’s capstone project, Travis contacted Good Cheese’s master cheesemaker to discuss the possibility of him being a mentor for the final assignment. In exchange, Travis centered the capstone research around the factory’s outstanding efficiency issues. Together, they assessed the issue and created a plan of action to solve the overarching problem.

A project turns into a plan of action

Travis’s final project included creating a plan to resolve the factory’s inefficiencies, complete with a plan of action that could be used in the plant to resolve the issue. After all of the work we put in to create a custom plan for the exact issue Good Cheese was facing, Separators was brought in to execute the work.

Sometimes, all you need is a little clarification

To solve the plant’s fat percentage issue, Separators is working to introduce two clarifiers to their production line to clarify the milk before separation. Paired with the plant’s existing fine saver, the new production setup will help produce high volumes of quality dairy products.

Fixing an old problem with new perspective

When we arrived back on the scene, Good Cheese was operating with two centrifuges — but only one that was operational. As you can imagine, this lone centrifuge was handling a large volume of product each day. And the lack of additional, working centrifuges kept the plant from expanding production goals.

To help get the plant working more efficiently, we took the plant’s second, broken-down centrifuge for a five-hour drive back to our Indianapolis shop to take a deeper look at the vibration issues that were keeping the machine down.

Our thorough inspection identified multiple problems, including concerns with the machine’s frame. So, we replaced the machine’s frame, serviced the bowl, and put the centrifuge through rigorous testing.

Remanufacturing a third centrifuge

Because the plant is looking to boost capacity significantly, we are also working with the Good Cheese team to remanufacture a third centrifuge. This has been no small task and has included identifying the necessary capacity for the machine, finding a centrifuge to remanufacture, and upgrading the centrifuge until it’s in like-new condition.