How does
the new
Lely Orbiter
work?

The launch of the first Lely Orbiter in August 2018 enabled our Lely farmer Guus van Roessel to deliver fresh milk straight to the shops. The concept is an on-farm dairy processor, a system that makes processing milk on the farm affordable, practical, safe and, above all, profitable. On 19 February 2020 we launched our second Lely Orbiter at the dairy farm of the family Oostdam in the Netherlands. Farmers and milk consumers are enthusiastic about the mini-factory. Click on the hotspots below and find out how it works.

HOTSPOTS

HOTSPOTS

How does the new
Lely Orbiter work?

The launch of the first Lely Orbiter in August 2018 enabled our Lely farmer Guus van Roessel to deliver fresh milk straight to the shops. The concept is an on-farm dairy processor, a system that makes processing milk on the farm affordable, practical, safe and, above all, profitable. On 19 February 2020 we launched our second Lely Orbiter at the dairy farm of the family Oostdam in the Netherlands. Farmers and milk consumers are enthusiastic about the mini-factory. Click on the hotspots below and find out how it works.

1. CIP

CIP or 'Cleaning in Place' is the Lely Orbiter’s component responsible for regular automatic cleaning of the complete installation’s processing components (e.g. piping, valves, tanks etc.). Because the Lely Orbiter produces a product meant for human consumption, food safety is of the highest importance.

2. RMO

RMO or ‘Raw Milk Reception’ (Rauwe Melk Ontvangst in Dutch). The Lely Astronaut milking robot can measure all sorts of different aspects in cow’s milk. This makes it possible for the Lely Orbiter to separate the milk based on specific aspects. The raw milk is subsequently collected in one of the 4,500L RMO tanks from where it can be further processed into four different milk types.

3. Pasteurizer, homogenizer 
and seperator

This is the beating heart of the Lely Orbiter process installation. Here the milk is being pasteurized at 72 degrees Celcius to make it safe for consumption and to extend the milk’s shelf life. Homogenization prevents the growth of a cream layer on top of the milk after a while and the separator enables extraction of cream out of the milk to also enable the production of (semi-)skimmed milk.

4. Filling machine

The Lely Orbiter is equipped with a fully automatic filling machine that decaps, fills and caps the PET milk bottles.

5. Labelling &
packaging area

In this area of the Lely Orbiter the back label is automatically applied to the milk bottles and the front- and tamper evident labels are applied manually after which the bottles are being packed in boxes for transport to the different shops.

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