Dairy Process Automation

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Control systems that drive intelligent, compliant, and efficient dairy operations

At Malisko, we specialize in industrial control system integration and in dairy processing, which means being the connective tissue between unit operations, quality systems, and real-time decision-making. For over 30 years, we’ve helped dairy producers modernize their facilities with automation strategies rooted in process expertise and built on a solid control foundation.

From raw milk intake to interfacing with OEM equipment in final packaging, our automated dairy system solutions focus on unifying control logic, recipe execution, CIP sequencing, and data contextualization. We don’t just automate individual tasks, we design control architectures that scale, adapt, and deliver actionable insight across the entire production environment.

Solving Core Dairy Challenges Through Control Intelligence

Our process-first mindset and controls background mean we approach challenges not just with technology, but with a clear understanding of the process itself. We help your team build a smarter, safer, and more reliable plant starting at the control layer.

Food Safety and Regulatory Alignment

We implement control strategies that enforce critical process limits, coordinate cleaning validation, and support traceable batch execution aligned with FSMA, PMO, and customer audit expectations. Whether you need automated allergen changeovers or digital traceability, our dairy process automation systems help ensure compliance is built-in, not bolted on.

Production Efficiency and System Coordination

We integrate control platforms that orchestrate complex dairy operations, such as pasteurization, fermentation, separation, filling, into cohesive, well-sequenced systems. The result is reduced downtime, faster changeovers, and consistent product quality, even under shifting demand or SKU mix.

Utility Optimization and Sustainability

Our control strategies extend beyond the process to include utility monitoring and intelligent resource use. From tracking steam and bulk chemical usage during CIP to monitoring energy usage across process cells, our automated dairy systems help you hit your sustainability targets without compromising throughput.

How We Build Value with Control-Led Integration

Centralized Process Control

We design and implement PLC- and SCADA-based architectures that unify control across process areas, giving operators and engineers a single source of operational truth that is scalable for multi-line and multi-site applications.

Real-Time Visibility and Traceability

Through integration with historians and MES platforms, we help you capture key production and quality data at the control source, enabling true lot tracking, root cause analysis, and digital compliance records.

Smart CIP Sequencing

We integrate OEM CIP skids into your system based on your controls standards, and we offer PMO-compliant CIP logging and reporting to give you the confidence you need to maintain hygienic standards.

Resilient System Uptime

We embed diagnostics, smart alarming, and redundancy into the control layer, so you can detect common failures, sensor drift, or equipment wear early, minimizing unplanned downtime and protecting your throughput.

Dairy Process Areas We Support

Our team brings experience across the core areas of dairy production, including:

  • Milk Receiving
  • Separation and Pasteurization 
  • Fermentation and Culturing
  • Homogenization and Standardization
  • Ingredient Batching and Mixing
  • Filling and Loadout Systems
  • Cheese Make Process
  • Drying, Evaporation, Fractionation (including whey)
  • CIP and SIP Coordination
  • Bulk Powder Handling
  • Utility and Environmental Control Systems

We also work with plant teams to integrate control systems with analytics platforms, LIMS, MES, and cloud/on-prem data lakes to support broader digital transformation goals.

Our Process: More Than a Project. It’s A Partnership.

We take a collaborative approach to every engagement, acting as an extension of your internal team:

  • Site and System Assessments
  • Front-End Engineering and Control Architecture Design
  • PLC/HMI Programming and Panel Design
  • Commissioning, Validation and Documentation
  • Post-Go-Live Support and Continuous Improvement

Whether you’re expanding a single process area or re-platforming a legacy facility, we deliver dairy automation control systems that serve as the operational backbone of your plant, for today and into the future.

Malisko: A Dairy Automation Industry Leader

Malisko understands that dairy manufacturing can be both very similar and vastly different than other food and beverage manufacturing. Addressing your specific needs to create automated dairy farming systems requires a depth of knowledge that not all automation experts possess. From understanding federal, state and local level regulations to manufacturing process applications, it is important that who you partner with understands the unique aspects of dairy manufacturing.

Our dedicated Engineers have years of experience automating Evaporators, Separators, Homogenizers, Cheese Vats, Membrane systems (ROs, UFs, MFs, etc.), Powder conveying systems, Crystallizers, Fermenters, Blend systems, Spray Dryers, HTST, UHTs, Contherms and more. Malisko works with its clients to design and implement entirely new production systems from the ground up and provide improvements to existing systems through technology migrations.

Case Study: How a Dairy Plant Transformed from Manual to Fully Automated

An automation infrastructure overhaul and new e-records and reporting are optimizing operations and Grade “A” PMO compliance for its milk powder plant.

Heat Exchangers Offer Big Processing Paybacks

While it may not be as prominent as many other dairy processing technologies, the heat exchanger is far from lowly. The equipment, which is used to transfer heat between two or more fluids during the cooling and heating processes without mixing the fluids together, can have a major impact on processing efficiencies and operating expenses.

Case Study: Dairy Producer Makes Quantum Leap from Fully Manual to Fully Automatic Manufacturing Operation including E-Records and Reporting for PMO Compliance

A national dairy producer wanted to increase receiving capacity and storage capacity, including cow water processing into Pasteurized Equivalent Water (PEW); in other words water conservation by being able to use the cow water (condensate off the evaporator); at a recently acquired milk powder plant.

Case Study: Dairy Producer Experiences Production Improvement with Process and Controls Upgrades to their Evaporation System

Malisko Enables Dairy Producer To Experience Significant Production Improvements with Controls Upgrade to 30 Year Old Milk Processing Systems.

In Need of Automation Solutions for Your Dairy Facility?

Malisko has decades of experience creating automation solutions for clients in the Dairy Industry. Contact our experts today.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of Cheese

Read how Malisko partnered with Rockwell Automation and The Center for Dairy Research to make quality improvements for 640-pound cheddar block production. Download our Project Brief to learn more.

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314.621.2921

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