How Modern Tech Like Centric PLM Drives Efficiency in the Dairy Industry

The value of the dairy industry in 2024 was $991.5 billion USD and growing. Dairy products vary from fluid milk to butter, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, powdered milk forms and whey protein; each has its own market dynamics. Dairy ingredients are a class all their own, and are used in food & beverages like bakery, dairy products, confectionary, dietary supplements, baby formula and more.

Fluid milk consumption has decreased significantly in countries like the US and the UK from the 1970s to almost half the amount today. With shifting industry trends, dairy companies must look to different sectors for growth: indulgent desserts, alt-dairy, cultured dairy, gut health, higher protein products.

To keep up with changing regulations, maintain certifications, reduce product development time and more, a product lifecycle management (PLM) platform is a technology upgrade that dairy organizations need to remain competitive. Centric PLM™ for Food & Beverage is a modern solution that tackles the challenges that dairy companies face like declining fluid milk consumption, tariffs, safety, sustainability requirements.

In most countries, milk has a standard of identity. It is further broken down into different types with a regulated fat percentage minimum, e.g., for whole milk, milkfat content ranges from 3% – 4%, low fat or partially skimmed is 1% – 2%, and skim milk is 0.3% – 0.5%. Regulations also specify the amount of nonfat milk solids, for example 8.25% by weight in the US. Milk must be pasteurized or ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurized to be shipped across state lines in the US with similar rules existing elsewhere due to the drastic reduction of milk-borne disease after the introduction of pasteurization.

For other products with standards of identity like cream, condensed milk, butter, cheeses, yogurt, ice cream, whole and skimmed milk powders there are also minimum amounts of milkfat and protein solids and maximum amounts of moisture (water) allowed in products like butter.

It is crucial to maintain the identity standards for each product category but optimize costs. Centric PLM to the rescue! With the optional addition of Least Cost Formulation (LCF) functionality, Centric PLM users can set protein, fat, solids, moisture or other parameter ranges and LCF will suggest formulations that minimize cost while still meeting country standards.

Dairy companies are looking to grow their business with new product innovation. A modern PLM that handles formulation, specifications, regulations, labeling, nutrition, packaging including artwork and acts as a central hub for all product data, eliminating much of the busy work. The automation of workflows frees up people to focus on creating new dairy products instead of filling in spreadsheets. It also drives up efficiency and keeps versioning and other records are in one place. Transparency is not to be overlooked as consumers demand to know what is in their milk, cheese or yogurt and how the cows were raised and treated. Centric PLM houses ingredient specs so origins are easily located and maintains certifications to ensure claims like kosher, organic and free range are respected. Woven into all of Centric Software’s solutions is AI, that powers through once-tedious tasks.

Some PLM platforms that grew out of the auto and aerospace field aren’t set up for fast moving consumer goods like food & beverage, cosmetics or household goods. With a history of serving consumer goods companies, Centric Software is able to provide all of its customers with industry best practices through frequent updates that benefit all. In this regard, users gain the experience and benefits of an entire industry.