The History, Production, and Processes Involved by Pembrokeshire Cheese Company - Case Study Example

Site Visit Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Pembrokeshire Cheese Company Introduction The production of cheese requires various processes. Pembrokeshire Cheese Company is involved in producing cheese. Due to the numerous processes involved, it is important that all the process undergo a chemical engineered process with main focus on monitoring and evaluation. There are main chemicals that are mixed in order to obtain a more refined cheese and since cheese is a food product, it is important that these chemicals are engineered properly and a quality control to be undertaken to assert these processes. With the many standards implemented regarding food as consumer product, there is need that the manufacture of cheese follows the right mixing of ingredients as well as to ensure that right processes are keenly followed. This paper will define the history, production as well as processes involved by Pembrokeshire Cheese Company in producing cheese (Pembrokeshire Cheese Company 2011). History The craft of making cheese dates back at least four thousand years ago. Pembrokeshire Cheese Company is a cheese producing company which is located in Wales in United Kingdom. The company is very proud of it’s welsh roots such that it has created 100% welsh cheesing 100% welsh milk. The company has well structured five strategic drivers that drive the company into success. These strategic drivers are; Driving cash for our farmers Growing their brands Diversifying both customer base as well as products Lowering their cost to serve Seeking value in partnership with other companies Following the above outlined drivers, Pembrokeshire Cheese Company has been able to strengthen their performance over the years. In 2010 and 2011, the company moved the price of milk as compared to its key competitors thus creating a major possibility of growth. With years, the company has been able to expand their brands, products as well as their customer base. This has been possible due to cost base restructuring, development of major partnership by both international as well as national partners (Pembrokeshire Cheese Company 2011). Pembrokeshire Cheese Company works with a leading series of partnership both internationally and in United Kingdom. The company chooses its partners more carefully. This is done by critically examining whether the partner is cultural fit for their business. The partners are required to share in Pembrokeshire Cheese Company drive as a way of seeking fresh ways of working. The company partners ranges from farm enterprise, ingredients, cheese distribution and haulage industries. Processes in Pembrokeshire Cheese Company There are numerous process involved in the production of cheese. These processes are; warming the milk, ripening the milk, additives, coagulation, cutting the curd, cooking and stirring, washing curds, draining, cheddaring, how water treatment, seasoning, salting, pressing, waxing, aging and finally tasting. First, the milk is warmed into appropriate temperature for culture to be used. This process is done slowly so as to ensure the cheese of quality. After warming the milk, there is need to ripen the milk. Here cultures are used to acidify the milk (Robinson and Wilbey1998). Cultures are used to ensure that there is consistency across the batches. Once the milk has ripened, other ingredients can be added this process is considered to be optional. These additives are dilute in cool bottled water before adding them to milk requiring them to be stirred gently from top to bottom. After adding the additives the mixture is then coagulated. Here the milk mixture is turned into solid. Rennet can either be used in coagulating of the milk or not. After coagulating the process of cutting the curd follows. The curds are cut into specific sizes. The consistency in cutting the curds largely determines the final texture of the cheese to be produced. After cutting the curd, cooking and stirring is followed so as to develop further acidity as well as cause the expulsion of the whey from the curd. Cooking and stirring should be done gently to prevent the curds from matting. After cooking the curds are separated from the whey (Pembrokeshire Cheese Company 2011). The curds are then washed. This is done so as to remove any traces of whey. This process should be repeated to remove any trace of whey. The curds are then drained through a cheese cloth lined colander. After draining the curds, the curds are cheddar where they are cut into strip and coked for about 2 hours. Finally, the curds are season to offer different tastes. Herbs or spices are often sprinkled on the top as opposed into mixing them. Quality Control Pembrokeshire Cheese Company has a well established quality control system. Here, the company needs to be skilled in grading its cheese so as to access quality, defects and suitability. The grading process is through sampling by sight, tasting, texture and smell. The quality control team of this company has well developed skills and knowledge that are required in converting milk into cheese (Robinson and Wilbey 1998). Sustainability Pembrokeshire Cheese Company believes in three areas of their sustainability namely ethics, environment and economics. Focusing on ethical, the company has robust processes in place. The company assists the farmers through creating various programs in relation to animal husbandry. It is quite evident that health and safety is a key driver in all processes involved in cheese making. On the environmental issues, Pembrokeshire Cheese Company is currently running various programs that ensure there are reduced carbon emissions. The company is working with other renewable energies companies to ensure that they use energy that is friendly to the environment (Robinson and Wilbey 1998). Finally, the company recognizes that to widely focus on sustainability, there is need to deliver on a well structured economic sustainability. The company has to ensure it delivers to their farmers a more improved margin over time. In order to fully maximize Pembrokeshire Cheese Company need to deliver great efficiencies right along its supply chain whereby each employee has a role towards achieving that. Murco Oil Refinery Pembrokeshire Introduction Chemical industry is one of the basics in chemical engineering as it involves the conversion of crude oil (the raw material) to useful products which include petrol, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene. The production and process of crude oil involves several mechanical and chemical changes that occur in different units. Visitation of the site was an eye-opener and assisted in gaining deeper understanding of the chemical processes in the industries. History Murco is one of the refineries in Pembrokeshire in the United Kingdom. It is situated near the Pembrokeshire Coast National park, on a 1200 acre site. The company came on stream in i973 under the ownership of Amoco. It was not until 1981 that Murco joined as a partner when a major catalytic cracker was added in the refinery. However, in 1990, Elf acquired the Amoco’s interest which was later acquired by Total in 2000. The refinery company operated under a joint venture of Total and Murco as a 70/30. In 2007, Murco did acquire the majority interest. At the moment, it holds a capacity of about 340 employees exclusive of the trainees. A major upgrade was carried out in 1981 that led to the increase of units in the company. The company has continued to increase its output in production of refined products. For example, in the recent years, the annual processing capacity of about 108,000 barrels (5.7 million tonnes) every day. The output of the company include: 33% petrol, 33% diesel, 14 % fuel Oils, 10 % Jet Fuel and Kerosine, 10 % Refinery Fuel and LPG. It is important to note that Murco is one of subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corporation based in United States. Murphy is a billion dollar company that deals with gas and oil exploration and production with refining and marketing operations well distributed in the United Kingdom and United States. It also has natural gas and crude oil exploration and operations in Ecuador, Malaysia and Canada. Refining At present, the refinery has continued to process more than 6 million tonnes of crude oil every year. This clearly indicates that the Mucro refining company is comfortably supplying its thriving commercial and retail network. Apart from diesel and petrol, other refined products include butane and propane used for heating and cooking, fuel oil for industry and ships and kerosene typically for aircraft oil. In production, the raw materials, crude oil, is basically transformed into petrol and other oil useful products. A refinery essentially separates crude oil into different components which are eventually the products are selectively converted into novel products. They are three basic steps in the refinery: Separation or fractional distillation, conversion whereby the molecules are cracked and rearranged and finally treatment. Separation /Fractional distillation Separation does involve piping the crude oil through very hot furnace. The vapors and resulting liquids are the passed through the distillation towers. Of importance to note is that, the column in the distillation towers is cool at the top while hot at the bottom. The fractions in the crude oil are separated according to their boiling point and weight. Lightest products which include liquid petroleum gas and petrol do vaporize, rising to the top of the column. Diesel oil, aviation fuel (kerosine) stay in the middle of the column while the heavier products separate and are found at lower down while the heaviest products and having the highest boiling points do settle at the bottom of the tower. The fractions are then piped to the next process. However, some fractions do need additional processing in order to acquire products of high values (Mohamed & Elkilani 2010). Conversion This involves the cracking rearranging the molecules from the fractions. Cracking is mostly used as involves the use of pressure and heat to “crack” the heavy hydrocarbon into lighter molecules. Cracking unit consists of reactors, network of furnace which are tall and thick-walled, some heat exchangers plus other important vessels. Catalytic cracking is basically used in process of making petrol. Applying intense heat of about 6000C, powdered catalyst and low pressure will allow the cat cracker to convert the heavy molecules into lighter fractions which are more useful that the previous substances. The refinery has cokers which basically use moderate pressure and heat to convert the heavy fractions into lighter ones together with a hard substance similar to coal, used as a source of fuel in the industry. Other forms of conversion in the refineries processes include; alkylation which makes petrol components and it involves combining gaseous products obtained from cracking. In actual fact, the process is said to be a reverse of cracking and it take place in large, horizontal vessels which arranged in series. In conversion of naphtha into octane petrol, reforming process is used. It applies catalyst, heat and moderate pressure (Gary & Handwerk 2005). Treatment This is the final touch in oil refinery. At present, large portion s of refining do involve purifying, fine-tuning, blending and improving the obtained products. This is done to ensure that the product meet the set and specific requirements. For example, various hydrocarbons are blended together to make petrol. Dyes and performance additives are also added to distinguish the grades of fuel obtained. Basically, petrol contains more than 150 additives and hydrocarbons before it is pumped into a car. It is important to note that a variety of fuels is produced to suit the weather. During winter, for example, more volatile hydrocarbons are put while in summer, less is put in order to compensate for the temperature experienced. Other units within the refineries include; vacuum distillation, sulphur recovery unit, hydro Desulpherisation Units and reformers isomerization unit (Mohamed & Elkilani 2010). Transport and storage Essentially, some oil products are volatile and need to stored and transport safely. The refinery is linked to the near marine terminal by underground pipelines and has the ability to handle tankers approximately 280,000 tons deadweight. The refined products are mainly distributed by rail, sea, pipeline and road to the Manchester and Midlands. The terminals are also used as storage and exchange facilitates. REFERENCES Gary, J., Handwerk, G., 2005, Petroleum Refining: Technology and Economics, New York: Marcel Dekker Inc. Mohamed, A, Elkilani, A, 2010, Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining, Oxford: Boulevard Pembrokeshire Cheese Company, 2011. Pembrokeshire Cheese Company. Retrieved from http://www.pembrokeshirecheesecompany.co.uk/ Robinson, R and Wilbey, R.1998, Cheesemaking practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Read More