Dairy Plants USA is our new interactive database of dairy plants, searchable by dairy processor, state or products made. Buyers of dairy ingredients or brands looking for co-packing partners are among the users of this new online directory.

Klondike Cheese Co. makes feta cheese and Greek yogurt at its plant in Monroe, Wis. Both products are in great demand.

The headquarters and manufacturing plant of G.S. Gelato, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., are far from the scenic Gulf Coast views in this resort town on the Emerald Coast of Florida’s panhandle.

Ask anyone what they know about Maine and you’ll probably hear “lobster, lighthouses and L.L. Bean.” Milk? Probably not, because Maine isn’t a top dairy state. There are just four milk plants (and eight bulk tank units) in Maine, according to the most recent Interstate Milk Shippers List.

Tucked away in a small town in Wisconsin is Bel Brands USA’s Little Chute plant, the smaller of its two cheese plants. Last October the plant was the first of Bel’s to get the Foundation for Food Safety Certification (FSSC) 22000.

A manufacturing facility is like a living organism. Think of production, purchasing, warehousing and quality assurance as cells. Each of these departments has a job to do that in some way touches the other functions. Each has to communicate with the others so that the whole enterprise runs smoothly.

For the first time ever, the readers of Dairy Foods selected the Plant Of The Year. We asked you to vote online for one of 13 nominees. All of the nominated dairy processors had been featured in the magazine between January 2011 and June 2012. We publicized the awards program through our own social media channels, and we encouraged each of the nominated processors to do the same.