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Bulla Dairy Food‘s boost efficiency and reduces waste.

About Bulla

Regal Cream Products Pty Ltd trading as Bulla Dairy Foods is an Australian owned and operated company, manufacturing chilled and frozen dairy products including cream, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and ice cream.

Operations take place at five sites in Victoria – Forest Street in Colac, Connor Street in Colac, Mulgrave, Dandenong and Derrimut. A significant quantity of energy is used in the form of electricity, gas, hot water, steam, chilled water, and compressed air. Energy using equipment includes steam boilers, air compressors, vacuum pumps, pumps, cogeneration, chillers, wastewater treatment and various dairy foods production lines.

Project overview

This project is a demonstration of the strong business case for comprehensive but strategic submetering and monitoring of energy and water. Bulla recognises that good metering and monitoring underpins effective energy management and is essential if energy and water waste is to be minimised.

Bulla’s visibility of when, where and how energy and water is used throughout its sites has been limited to boundary billing meters and a small number of submeters. Furthermore, many of the sub-meters that do exist were not networked and/or meter data was not readily accessible/viewable by stakeholders. Consequently, Bulla has developed and implemented a pilot metering system at its Connor Street site in Colac, Victoria.

The project scope included:

This project was made possible with the assistance of funding from two grants; the Dairy Australia Data Technology Assessment Scheme (Co-funded by Dairy Australia) and Food Innovation Australia Limited) and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWPDepartment of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) Business Recovery Energy Efficiency Fund (BREEF).

The problem



Bulla sought external expertise to support the following project steps:

1. Establish a detailed picture of existing metering capability.

2. Design a master metering plan.

3. Evaluate a range of software platforms against Bulla’s needs.

4. Specify, procure, install, commission and validate meters.

5. Configure software and interface existing and new meters.

6. End-to-end validation of meter data.

7. Fine tune dashboards and reports.

Outsourcing of expertise

A key success factor was the use of energy management specialists Northmore Gordon to design the metering plan, provide guidance on meter technology options and installation requirements, develop criteria for software platform assessment, evaluate software products, and assist with selection of the best option. A specialist vendor was also used to install and commission meters and the software platform.

Use of a dedicated data handling platform Another key project decision was to utilise an advanced centralised and dedicated software platform for collecting, collating, displaying, and reporting energy and water data. The tendering selection process weighed ease-of-use, capacity for in-house customisation, and reporting and alarming functions.

Bulla chose the Schneider ‘Power Monitoring Expert’ platform, implemented by ‘Azzo’. The system can issue alerts for abnormal energy usage or energy performance of equipment and processes. It also has the capacity to hold and report other environmental data. The cloud based platform is very customisable and capable of dashboarding, sending alerts, aggregating data, shadow billing, baselining, identifying missing/corrupt data, reporting (daily, weekly, monthly), KPI tracking, and advanced data visualisation, such as Sankey diagrams and heatmaps.

Key outcomes and learnings

Next steps

1. Use the system to identify and realise saving opportunities, which in turn will help Bulla meet its

energy and greenhouse targets under the Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework.

2. Expanding the software to other sites.

3. Progressively invest in more meters to cover all of Bulla’s sites, with a focus on energy intense processes and loads.

For more information contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com

Founded in 1910, Bulla is one of Australia’s oldest family-owned dairy companies, producing ice cream, cream, yoghurt, and cheese for local and export markets.

Industry

Food & Beverage

Location

Victoria, Australia

Andrew Dawkins

Senior Engineer

Contact Andrew ›

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Who is Bulla Dairy Foods and what does the company produce?

Bulla Dairy Foods (legally Regal Cream Products Pty Ltd) is an Australian owned and operated company that manufactures chilled and frozen dairy products including cream, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and ice cream. Founded in 1910, it is one of Australia's oldest family-owned dairy companies, producing for local and export markets.

Where does Bulla Dairy Foods operate its sites?

Bulla operates at five sites in Victoria, Australia: Forest Street in Colac, Connor Street in Colac, Mulgrave, Dandenong, and Derrimut.

What was the goal of the metering and monitoring project at Bulla?

The project aimed to demonstrate the business case for comprehensive but strategic submetering and monitoring of energy and water at Bulla, since good metering and monitoring underpins effective energy management and is essential to minimising energy and water waste.

What problem was Bulla facing before this project?

Bulla's visibility into when, where and how energy and water were used was limited to boundary billing meters and a small number of submeters. Many existing submeters were not networked or their data was not readily accessible to stakeholders, and existing data extraction processes were manual, relying on spreadsheets and SCADA system screenshots. Bulla also had gaps in in-house capacity and expertise and faced high costs for metering, especially steam meters.

What did the project scope at Bulla's Connor Street site include?

The scope included mapping existing sub-metering capability and designing a metering upgrade plan; specifying, sourcing and installing meters for key utilities (electricity, gas, steam, co-generation, hot water, chilled water, and compressed air); selecting and installing a data collection and reporting software platform; streamlining routine environmental reporting; and providing tools to prevent consumption drift and track progress toward water and energy targets. In total, 35 existing meters were connected to the new software platform and 27 new meters were installed, enabling monitoring of electricity, gas, water, steam consumption, electricity and steam generation, and waste production by key plant areas.

Which grants funded the Bulla metering project?

The project was funded with assistance from the Dairy Australia Data Technology Assessment Scheme (co-funded by Dairy Australia and Food Innovation Australia Limited) and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Business Recovery Energy Efficiency Fund (BREEF).

What role did Northmore Gordon play in the Bulla project?

Northmore Gordon acted as energy management specialists who designed the metering plan, provided guidance on meter technology options and installation requirements, developed criteria for software platform assessment, evaluated software products, and assisted with selecting the best option. A specialist vendor was separately used to install and commission the meters and software platform.

Which software platform did Bulla choose for data management, and why?

Bulla chose the Schneider 'Power Monitoring Expert' platform, implemented by 'Azzo'. It was selected through a tendering process that weighed ease-of-use, capacity for in-house customisation, and reporting and alarming functions. The cloud-based platform supports dashboarding, alerts, data aggregation, shadow billing, baselining, identifying missing/corrupt data, reporting (daily, weekly, monthly), KPI tracking, and advanced visualisations such as Sankey diagrams and heatmaps.

What key learnings came out of the Bulla metering project?

Key learnings included that metering alone does not produce savings — it's the application of the tools, data, and operational insights that leads to savings; metering systems need to be cost-effective and over-metering should be avoided; electricity and water meters cost less than gas and steam meters; software platforms should not constrain growth and are relatively low-cost to expand to other sites; different stakeholder groups (from plant operators to the Board) need customised information; and pipework modifications were sometimes needed to ensure accurate meter placement.

What are Bulla's next steps following this metering and monitoring project?

Bulla plans to use the system to identify and realise saving opportunities to help meet energy and greenhouse targets under the Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework, expand the software platform to other sites, and progressively invest in more meters across all of Bulla's sites, focusing on energy-intensive processes and loads.

Does the Bulla case study report quantified energy savings results?

No. According to the knowledge base, no quantified savings are supplied for this case; the focus is on establishing the metering and monitoring infrastructure (the measurement foundation) rather than demonstrating implemented energy savings.

Who can be contacted for more information about the Bulla case study?

For more information, contact c.morgan@northmoregordon.com. The case study also lists Andrew Dawkins, Senior Engineer, as a contact associated with the project.

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