Quality upgrades as part of growth stratey

In 2008, D.P.O., Tetra Pak’s first and largest UHT milk customer in Thailand, decided to upgrade the equipment in its three main dairies in order to fulfil its expansion strategy. This provided an excellent opportunity for Tetra Pak to offer the customer the Tetra Pak A3/ CompactFlex iLine, being the most advanced technological solution avail- able on the market for portion packs.

Conversion project to ensure expansion
In late 2007, much of the equipment in use was old and the utilisation capacity was reaching its limits. D.P.O.’s growth strategy demanded an upgrade and expansion of the installed capacity at three of its UHT milk plants: at Muaklek, Pranburi and Khonkaen. The project led, among other things, to the deployment at D.P.O. of a Tetra Pak A3/CompactFlex iLine for Tetra Brik Aseptic 200 B and Tetra Brik Aseptic 250 B packages in August 2009. "The Tetra Pak A3/CompactFlex iLine turned out to be the perfect product for this D.P.O. dairy. The customer needed equipment with high capacity and flexibility, yet a compact solution. Working closely with one of our value business partners such as D.P.O., giving them the opportunity to interact with the solutions of the future, is of great importance for us", says Thitipol Artsanchorn, Commercial Manager at Tetra Pak Thailand.

Increased line automation
The main reason behind the choice was the better value proposition for D.P.O. of the Tetra Pak A3/CompactFlex iLine in terms of cost, more advanced tech- nology and higher capacity, as well as low energy and utility consumption of the equipment.
In parallel with the deployment of the Tetra Pak A3/CompactFlex iLine, D.P.O. also replaced outdated equipment with three Tetra Pak A3/Flex filling machines at the Khonkaen plant. Thereby increasing capacity by 27 per cent and saving 28 per cent with reduced operational costs.