How Riverina Fresh is using technology to drive sustainability and ensure consistent quality of its Australian dairy products for its café partners across the country.
Since it started supplying fresh milk to Australians in 1922, Riverina Fresh has endeavoured to have a positive impact on the communities with which it engages. Over a century later, that aim is still part of the company’s core ethos and has recently resulted in a series of innovations at its production facility in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.
“Impact is one of our key values. Put simply, that means we care for today and we care about tomorrow,” says Riverina Fresh Executive Chairman and CEO Craig Shapiro.
“That mindset is ingrained across our entire business – from our manufacturing facilities right through to our end customers, many of which are cafes and other hospitality businesses.”
In fact, Riverina Fresh’s commitment to producing quality, sustainable dairy products extends right back to the farm gate. The team work closely with a small group of dairy farmers in the Riverina region to ensure milk standards remain as high as possible.
Like many businesses, Riverina Fresh is focused on how it can play a positive role in working towards the global goal of hitting net zero by 2050. Craig and the team constantly assess each part of their lengthy supply chain to see where opportunities exist. They have already made big changes such as installing 1300 square metres of solar panels at the Wagga Wagga factory and introducing new initiatives to minimise waste.
“There’s no silver bullet for businesses working towards net zero,” says Craig.
“Realistically, it requires small incremental changes over time. Something we’re particularly interested in is creating a circular economy to reutilise waste wherever possible.”
One such example is the company’s ongoing commitment to reducing water consumption and minimising the waste that goes into council drainage systems. The waste from the factory passes through a Dissolved Air Flotation plant, removing all the solids that would otherwise go down the drain. These solids then go to a compost facility and a pig farm where they’re recycled as feed.
The team are also encouraging their café partners to return empty plastic milk containers when new ones are delivered, so they can be crushed and sent off to Kurrajong Recycling, a local business that supports disability employment.
“We try not to approach sustainability only through the lens of our own facilities: we also focus on the sustainability of our regional communities and work closely with other local businesses,” says Craig.
Alongside this emphasis on creating a circular economy, the Riverina Fresh team are exploring ways they can use technology to make the manufacturing facility more efficient and, in turn, more sustainable. An example of this is the implementation of IoT (Internet of Things) technology.
“Instead of getting rid of old equipment, we looked at ways of extending the life of existing machinery. By introducing IoT, we’ve been able to extract data from older machines and run the factory more efficiently,” says Craig.
“By running more efficiently we reduce our energy consumption and by upgrading older equipment we minimise waste disposal. Both outcomes have a positive sustainable benefit.”
IoT is a cloud-based system that reads data from sensors placed on equipment. Surprisingly, even older equipment has data running through it, but before using the IoT system this wasn’t automatically captured at the Riverina Fresh factory. With the new system in place, the team can now read this data and use it to monitor how the equipment is running in real time and see where bottlenecks occur.
The bottle filler is one such piece of equipment that’s been fitted out with IoT technology. Being able to measure the number of bottles passing through it each hour allows the team to calculate the capacity at which it’s running compared with its maximum speed.
“It’s important to be able to access this sort of data to ensure the machines are running smoothly so we know there’s no compromise on the quality of the milk,” says Craig.
“That’s our ultimate goal. We want our milk to be of the highest possible quality when it meets the coffee in the cup – from the farm, through the factory and delivery, until it arrives at the café.”
This focus on quality and sustainability is shared by many of Riverina Fresh’s café partners, which Craig says have similar values around impact and sustainable farming practices.
“What we’re doing with our milk is aligned with the values of our key coffee roaster and café partners, who are conscious of where and how their beans are grown,” he says.
For more information, visit riverinafresh.com.au
This article appears in the August/September 2024 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
