Thursday, 28 July 2022 07:55

Yili opens 'Dairy Silicon Valley'

Written by  Staff Reporters
The Yili industrial park in Hohhot, China includes a milk powder and liquid milk production facilities. The Yili industrial park in Hohhot, China includes a milk powder and liquid milk production facilities.

Chinese dairy giant Yili has launched a multi-billion dollar industrial park in Hohhot, China.

Dubbed the 'dairy silicon valley', the Global Smart Manufacturing Industrial Park of Yili Future Intelligence and Health Valley aims to serve as a global dairy hub.

With a total investment of over $1.2 billion, the park has four projects underway: a liquid milk production base, a milk powder production base, the Chilechuan Ecological Intelligent Pasture and the Yili Intelligent Manufacturing Experience Center.

Yili says the industrial park applies world-class equipment and takes full advantage of leading technologies such as artificial intelligence.

It claims the benchmarking production bases for liquid milk, infant formula and cheese at the park represent the world's largest scale of their kind, employing high levels of automation and digitisation.

The park is also home to six national platforms, including the National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy and the National Metrology and Testing Center for Dairy Products.

Yili says the development of this industrial cluster is expected to boost regional economic growth and accelerate the growth of global health industries.

The liquid milk production base covers an area of about 950omu (equivalent to the field of play area of 89 FIFA World Cup stadiums) and employs world-leading digital equipment that can ensure unmanned, transparent,efficient and traceable production processes. It can process 6,500 tons of fresh milk per day, which can meet a megacity's daily demand.

The milk powder production base has an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons, which can feed 1.28 million infants per year. Yili say, as the world's largest infant formula production base, the park leads the industry in introducing the Intelligent Building Management System (IBMS), the Facility Management and Control System (FCMS) and applies a variety of cutting-edge interactive technologies.

Chilechuan Ecological Intelligent Pasture, a supporting farm for the park, occupies an area of 11,250mu and has received a total investment of $169m.

The park also houses the world's first 5D cinema, for industrial tours.

"This enables them to learn more about state-of-the-art dairy production models and the entire life-cycle of milk production.

"[The park] is expected to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for more than 350,000 people and attract a total of one million people to live in the region."

Yili owns two manufacturing sites in New Zealand - Westland Milk in Hokitika and Oceania Dairy in South Canterbury.

More like this

Wrong, again!

OPINION: This old mutt well remembers the wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth by former West Coast MP and Labour Agriculture Minister Damian O’Connor when Chineseowned Yili took over the troubled dairy company Westland Milk a few years back.

China comeback?

OPINION: Is the Chinese dairy slump coming to an end? Yes, according to one of the China’s biggest dairy companies, Yili Industrial Group.

Wrong again!

OPINION: Remember when the once-crumbling Westland Milk Products company was bought out by Chinese company Yili in 2019 and the howls of outrage and derision from current Minister of Agriculture and West Coast MP Damien O'Connor describing it as a 'sad day' for the West Coast?

Featured

Feds make case for rural bank lending probe

Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.

MPI cuts 391 jobs

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has informed staff it will cut 391 jobs following a consultation period.

National

Canada's flagrant dishonesty

Deeply cynical and completely illogical. That's how Kimberly Crewther, the executive director of DCANZ is describing the Canadian government's flagrant…

Regional leader award

Eastern Bay of Plenty farmer Rebecca O’Brien was named the 2024 Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) Regional Leader of the Year.

Machinery & Products

Tractor, harvester IT comes of age

Over the last halfdecade, digital technology has appeared to be the “must-have” for tractor and machinery companies, who believe that…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Substitute for cow's milk?

OPINION: Scientists claim to have found a new way to make a substitute for cow's milk that could have a…

Breathalyser for cows

OPINION: The Irish have come up with a novel way to measure cow belching, which is said to account for…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter