Amul the health and wealth builder of the nation serves fresh and healthy milk to millions of Indians every day The milk India drinks every day is collected and processed at the most modern, fully automated and state-of-the-art Amul dairy plants situated across the country. Let's take a tour to one such Amul dairy plant to know how the milk is processed and packed. Since 1946, every day in the morning and evening, Amul has been serving people of India and even outside India. We cannot imagine an Indian morning without a glass of hot milk or a cup of milk tea.
And certainly no one can even dream of Indian sweet dishes without the milk as a part of it, in the form of condensed milk or some other form. Amul, the taste of India, is the largest producer of milk in the world. It processes healthy and fresh milk in various packs and sizes for various milk requirements of every family.
The combination of calcium and vitamin D present in milk is rare and very essential for maintaining density and strength of bones. Do you know 150 ml of cow's milk provides 23% of the daily value of phosphorus? 29% of the daily value for calcium along with 16% of daily value for protein to us? A household name in India has immense contribution by Dr. Vargas Kurien, the milkman of India, to make it reach there.
In his fond memory, India celebrates Dr. Kurien's birthday, November 26th, as the National Milk Day. Healthy and quality milk is only possible when the animals are provided with quality fodder and feed, good health care and hygienic shelter conditions. Amul extends all these facilities to its more than 3.6 million milk producing members spread across many states.
Amul provides veterinary doctor services at farm level along with support to dairy farmers to adopt new technology and equipment to produce clean milk, which is most important to maintain complete milk chain hygiene. It is unbelievable that every day, lakhs of dairy farmers use milking machines to milk animals. Dairy has brought a sea change in the socio-economic conditions of the village people.
Irrespective of caste, creed and religion, producer members see Amul as a means to climb the rope of development. A steel milk can has become a symbol of change, and we can see this everywhere. The smiling faces of 3.6 million milk producers of Amul say a happiness story. which even a thousand words cannot describe. Every morning, lakhs of village cooperative societies collect milk from its members.
It is fascinating to see hundreds of women standing in the line waiting for their turn to pour milk. A society-trained staff collects the samples and checks for quality parameters instantly. Once confirmed, members pour milk.
This continues till all the members'milk gets collected. Every day, Twice a day for 365 days this is repeated so Amul customers in 600 cities and towns get uninterrupted milk to enjoy. This is not a simple job. These cooperative societies have elected board which regularly decides their own plan of action to promote dairy and keep society functions under check. In the words of Dr. Kurien, cooperatives are people's institutions.
To see what milk cooperatives can change one has to see these functioning. Once all the milk is collected and stored in bulk chiller, chilled milk is pumped into an insulated tanker under controlled temperature. Amul has established a direct linkage between milk producers and consumers, eliminating the middlemen.
This is the unique and the world-renowned Amul model. Once tankers are filled by chilled milk from the bulk chiller, tankers start their journey to the Amul plant. Once the tanker reaches the milk-receiving dock, the real action starts. First, trained staff takes out the milk samples from the tanker and sends it to the lab. There is a well-defined sample collection procedure and it has to be followed strictly with each tanker.
In the lab, on war footing basis samples of milk are tested for various parameters. Test results of each sample are recorded in the computer automatically and the same is communicated to the society from where the tanker has come. Once samples are passed, Milk is connected to the milk unloading station and is pumped to raw milk storage silos under load.
low temperature. Amul is also the torchbearer of renewable energy use in dairy sector. Amul's plants are fitted with solar water heater systems which supply hot water to various sections of the processing plant.
Now let's see the process. First the milk is brought into this pre-treatment area from raw milk silos. It is automatically filtered for any bacterial and foreign material impurities. From here Milk goes for pasteurization. I can say this is the first check post for milk process.
Milk is heated upto 72.5 degree centigrade for 15 seconds and then instantly chilled which kills almost all pathogenic bacteria in the raw milk. For homogenized milk, milk is passed through homogenizer. Homogenization is a very special process, which makes fat molecules very small under heavy pressure. We can see once these molecules pass through a piston, they break down into fine molecules.
This process makes milk and fat nicely mix with each other. It also prevents fat separation and cream plug formation. Now this pasteurized and homogenized milk is sent to the packing stations where it is packed.
Amul Gold is one among many flag bearer variant of the milk, which contains minimum 6% fat and 9% SNF. This high quality milk is packed in food grade plastic pouches. Amul has established in-house state of the art plant for various pouch requirements. Every day the plant makes printed rolls for millions of pouches, which are used at numerous Amul dairy plants situated across India.
These rolls are placed in the pouch packing machines. A trained packing station in charge places the printed food grade polythene rolls in the machines. From top milk comes into the processing section to this form fill and seal machines.
First this machine pulls the flat sheet of the printed poly pack material and then it makes a cylindrical shape by sealing its two side edges. A nozzle fills the required quantity of chilled milk in the cylindrical shape roll. and a hot plate cuts and seals the packs.
Every minute, this packs around 80 milk packets. In an hour, it forms, fills and seals more than 4,800 packets. At Amul Plants, there are large number of such machines working round the clock. Next, these filled packs move forward, dancing over a food-grade conveyor and an automatic system which drops them in a crate and counts till the required number is placed in. Once a crate gets filled, It moves forward and an empty crate takes its place.
Crate's movement is also fully controlled by a sensor system, which allows or stops the crate's movement depending upon the traffic. Next, en route to cold storage, trained manpower arranges the milk packs properly. Wow! It is like a traffic signal system, which allows it to stop vehicles on the road. I can say it looks more efficient than the traffic signal system.
I'm going to show you a fully automatic milk packing and handling system, which is the first of its kind in India and you will be mesmerized. Oh really? I'm sure Amul can mesmerize anyone. This is Amul Taza filling and packing section.
Amul Taza has minimum 3% milk fat and 8.5% SNF. For consumer's ease, it is available in 200ml, 500ml, 1 litre and 6 litre packing. This is India's first robotic milk packing and handling system. Once the fully automatic multiple milk filling system packs and conveyors bring these down to the system, many robotic arms pick these running packets and keep them in the crates properly. Even the crates'movements are auto-controlled.
This is incredible. I don't think anyone else in India has this system. Next, these filled crates move forward over a conveyor towards a cold room store.
A photo sensor counts tirelessly the number of passing crates and records it into the computer in the control room. This gives a firm production data and dispatch planning. Next, these filled crates move to the other chamber where again an automatic crate stacking system keeps the crates on top of each other.
This is an efficient system and it improves the quality control and a faster process completion. Now these milk crates are stacked properly in a cold storage. where temperature is maintained below 5 degree centigrade round the clock before dispatch which happens twice a day. This low temperature keeps the milk pack fresh. It is very important to keep empty crates neat, clean and hygienic once they return the plant after the milk delivery.
At every Amul plant there is a special automatic section where empty crates go through a ritual bath and steam before they enter back to the milk packing section. In an orderly manner a worker keeps all the crates upside down over a conveyor which takes these to a crate bathing chamber. From down and all sides a healthy shower is given to each crate while they move over the conveyor.
Any material in the crates is washed off here. Once purified These crates make a queue to get in the packing section. Again, the traffic control system manages their flow towards the packing machines. It really is a routine cycle these crates go through.
Amul is also a pioneer in a septic packing system. Do you know the aseptic packaging technology is considered as the most amazing food packaging innovations of the 20th century? For aseptic packing, which is also known as Tetra Pak, already pasteurized milk stored in silos is sent to this section. Milk from these big store tanks goes to the ultra high temperature section, also known as UHT section. Amul has many aseptic packing units for various products.
Milk in Tetra Pak is processed and packed in this section. Let us know more about UHT technology. In UHT technology, milk is heated very quickly to 135 to 140 degree centigrade for a few seconds and then it is brought down to around 20 to 30 degree centigrade.
This quick heating and cooling kills all the bacteria in the milk. Do you know that milk packed in Tetra Pak can be stored at room temperature for 6 months without any refrigeration? Next, this milk is ultra heat treated with heat exchanger and cooled to 35 degree centigrade and the milk has the same nutritive value as normal poly pack milk. First, milk is standardized and then preheated and sent to a homogenizer.
Homogenization decreases the size and increases the total surface area of flat globules in the milk. This reduces the milk's tendency to to form a creamy layer at the surface and on contacts with the container. This is Amul's APS unit.
This unit has a capacity to pack 8 lakh litres of milk per day. A septic packing material, which makes various pack sizes, has its own fascinating facts. Like process, this material is also unique.
In the packs made with these rolls, milk, milk products and beverages can be preserved for 4 to 6 months without refrigeration. unless the packs are opened isn't that amazing an operator picks up these heavy rolls by a special pick and move lift and takes them to a septic packaging machines next he gently loads rolls on a feeder section of the APS unit let me explain you the exciting technology behind this special packing material the aseptic packs consist of six layers layer one is made of polyethylene or plastic which guards against moisture layer two is paperboard which gives strength and stability to pack Layer 3 is again polyethylene and this acts as an adhesive for the next layer. Fourth layer is aluminium which acts as a light air and odour barrier and prevents harmful bacteria.
Layer 5 is again polyethylene which acts as an adhesive for the innermost layer. The sixth innermost layer is food grade polyethylene which seals the flavour of the products. After putting the rolls in feeder and fixing it, Operator takes a sample after cutting a piece from it for lab testing. This unit works in a closed environment to facilitate a very high standard of hygiene.
Operators have to use the disinfectant very frequently to keep their hands clean and pathogen free. While packing material rolls in to meet processed aseptic milk, the operator also changes a tape which seals the sides of the packing material while taking a cylindrical shape at the later stage. It's a special kind of plastic strip which sits in between the two ends and on heating sticks them with a smile. Oh, I have never seen anything like this before. I am so amazed to see the startling facts and technology behind APS.
While from one side the tape is moved to stick, machines pull up the packing material from the other end in a cylindrical shape. At a very high speed, a rolling two-side arm presses, shapes, seals and cuts this. and a wonderful glittering Amul Gold milk emerges, which is the most loved standardized long-life milk of India. This machine makes 25,200 packs per hour, which is the most popular milk in the world.
Which means 7 packs per second. Let's see it in slow motion. This is incredible. It means 1 packet per human eye blink. This machine is super fast.
That too without human assistance. I can say this machine has its own brain. Amul Taza packs too are made by this machine. Next, a blower dries these and a printer marks these with a date and a batch number.
A laser gun keeps on counting the numbers. Wow! It's literally fast and furious.
This serpent-like buffer machine is placed en route to continuous automatic packing. This keeps the pack stored for some 5 to 7 minutes so the production does not halt. As soon as it gets a green signal, packets move further towards the packing system. What a traffic control system! I'm impressed and amazed.
Next, these packs are neatly separated into blocks of 24 and moved by a lever gently to a carton packing station. A vacuum cup pulls a strong corrugated box and places it on a platform to welcome Amul Taza Packs. Here, it gently wraps them around from all directions and moves them forward to a conveyor, which takes it on to its further journey. Amul packs 40 to 45 different variants of milk and beverages, which are basically cut open and consumed. One can enjoy the taste of India anywhere from Thar desert to the mountains of Himalayas.
Now these cartons are given a shrink wrapping for sturdiness. A machine wraps polythene around these boxes and when these pass through a hot tunnel, it shrinks and tightly holds on to the boxes from all sides. Now a mool taza is ready to travel.
Before the boxes move to a lift, a laser beam system controls the movement of boxes and directs them how to board a lift gently. Now the Lyft takes these boxes to ASRS store system. Do you know Amul aseptic pack products and beverages are available in more than 25 countries? Samples are taken on regular intervals. Various tests like conductivity test for leak proof, stretch test for strength of joints and so on.
Also boxes are kept under observation for 4 days before sending them to the market. Amul introduced lactose-free milk first time in India for the people who have lactose intolerance. I'm confused. What is lactose intolerance? Okay, let me explain.
Few people who have lactose intolerance, a lactase deficiency, have gastrointestinal symptoms when they consume dairy products containing lactose. Oh, that's so sad. But no one should be deprived of the taste of fresh milk. Therefore, Amul introduced this lactose-free milk. Amul lactose free milk has additional lactase enzyme in milk.
During a septic processing and packing of milk, lactase enzyme is added aseptically in the milk so that you can drink it without experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms. Lactase makes the milk taste sweeter too. Amul, the taste of India, not only provides tasty milk products to consumers, but also takes care of their health growing children and elders need the additional calcium than what they get from food in fact due to modern food habits and junk foods everyone now needs healthy food supplements which are fresh and full of richness of taste looking at this a more launched Cal C plus milk in a septic packing for the special consumers milk is fortified a septic Lee with additional calcium why it is processed once fortified in ultra heated and packed a septic Lee This milk remains nutritive for months.
I have completely lost track now. I find it difficult to remember how many products Amul has first introduced in India. It looks like every innovative dairy product is launched in India by Amul. Yes, that's why Amul is loved by all. In APS, it is important to keep the system very hygienic.
Therefore, before every shift of production, a fully automatic clean-in-place CIP system foams and then showers water. to clean the machine from outside as well as inside. Amul Creamer is one product which is in tandem with consumer demand.
It is convenient to serve and can be used anywhere, anytime. It's made in a very special separate section of a septic packing with a fully automatic processing as well as packing unit. This unit has a separator, pasteurization, homogenization, ultra heat treatment and a cooling unit. All machines work in a fashion that is at a uniform speed and the continuous flow treated cream keeps on going to the packing machine. First the cream is separated with a fully automatic cream separator.
and then it is standardized and passes through various stages once milk is converted to cream it is balanced and kept in store for smooth flow of the process processed and pre-treated cream is sent to the fully enclosed packing unit where this cream is packed in small blister packs and sealed by a top printed poly cover A food grade poly pack sheet is fed into the machine. This sheet is first sterilized inside this packing station. Once sterilized, sheet moves forward and a hot dye makes the small cup size pack.
From the top of the machine, top cover layer is fed and rollers align its position over the molded cups. Cups are filled with cream inside the chamber and the top layer is spread on this filled cup. A hot plate presses the top layer on the cups and seals it.
Now these covered cups attached with the sheet move ahead. and a hot knife cuts and separates them. Playfully, these cups come out from the machines and get packed in cartons.
Once they reach a particular number, cartons move ahead and come under the hopper to get filled with a new batch of Amul Creamer. Next, these packed cartons are stacked nicely in the storeroom to be delivered to the market. The aseptic packed material nicely packed in delivery cartons reach from all packing stations to a fully automatic modern storage system which is fully controlled by the computers which decides where to store the pallets made with these cartons.
This system looks futuristic in its outlook. Pallets are stacked over a 30 meter high specially designed marked place by a robotic system which places and later retrieves these pallets. Therefore, it is called An automatic storage and retrieval system, fully automated ASRS system chooses the pallets as per the demand from the racks and the robotic system brings it out to the delivery platform.
A trained forklift operator picks these and places them in the specially designed truck. From the ASRS system every day, Amul delivers fresh milk by specially designed insulated trucks to various cities. Twice a day, round the year, this delivery works unstoppable. An external agency person keeps the count of the crates, which are loaded in each container.
It is fascinating to see a row of delivery containers on the dispatch platform. Once fully loaded with different varieties of milk crates, these pouch-packed milk container trucks start their journey to various cities close to the plant. Amul, the taste of India, delivers customers its favorite fresh and healthy milk so they can enjoy it with a smile. Amul takes pride in serving its millions of customers across India.