Tillamook: a look inside the plant

It is bad enough to have one co-worker looking over your shoulder while you are trying to do your job. Imagine total strangers watching you work. That’s the situation in Tillamook, Ore., where, over the course of a year, 1 million tourists stop at the Tillamook County Creamery Association factory, climb the steps to a second-story observation deck, and watch the cheesemaking process unfold below them.

When they have seen enough, visitors return downstairs to order a grilled cheese sandwich in the Creamery Cafe restaurant, sample ice cream from a dipping parlor or pick up squeaky cheese (fresh curds) and souvenirs in the gift shop. The visitors’ center is one of the top tourist attractions in the state.

The Tillamook County Creamery Association, formed in 1909, is a dairy cooperative of about 105 farmers in Tillamook County. In the early days, cheese was made at several creameries throughout the county, sometimes at the dairy farm for convenience. As roads improved and trucks replaced horse-drawn wagons, many of the creameries consolidated their operations. In 1949, the co-op opened a 175,000-square-foot cheesemaking plant in Tillamook, which was centrally located.

Over time, as the demand for Tillamook cheeses expanded, the cooperative enlarged the production and warehouse areas. Tillamook has added to and upgraded the facility to stay current with manufacturing requirements. It built a new cheesemaking room in 1990, with an automated cheddaring system, new vats, block-forming towers and a rapid-cool system. The facility also manufactures ice cream and whey powders. It is a testament to the construction practices of more than 60 years ago that parts of the 1949 plant are still in use.

Good cheese starts with good milk. Every day, 28 to 30 tankers deliver milk from Tillamook’s farmer-owner members. The facility has five 25,000-gallon silos and three 30,000-gallon silos for cheese production. For ice cream production, there are two 10,000-gallon cream silos. Supplementary milk and cream is sourced outside the co-op, as needed, to keep production at capacity to meet consumer demand.

All of the milk and cream used to make Tillamook products is tested to ensure it meets its strict quality standards. Tillamook has a quality control lab that tests for components and performs microbiological tests from the time milk arrives to the creation of a finished product. The milk doesn’t sit in the silo for very long. A co-op member said the milk he ships is cheese 12 hours later.

An on-site sensory lab grades all in-process products and performs some quality tests. Tillamook also offers a mastitis lab as a benefit to the farmer-owners to help them identify efficiencies and ensure
cow health.

Dale Baumgartner has been making cheese for Tillamook for 44 years. Today he is the head cheesemaker, overseeing eight cooking vats (called double-O’s), each holding 53,500 pounds of milk. Inside, two agitators distribute annatto coloring and cultures throughout the milk. Tillamook worked with dairy scientists at Oregon State University to develop its own unique starter.

“Every tank of starter is its own little animal,” Baumgartner said. As the micro-organisms in the starter interact with the milk, the watchful eye of an experienced cheesemaker is required to fine-tune any adjustments that need to be made. This part of the process cannot be automated.

After the starter is added, Baumgartner introduces the rennet and curds begin to form. From the cooking vats, the mixture is pumped to the cheddarmaster, which has a capacity of about 15,000 pounds. Here, the cheese is formed into blankets, about 7 inches deep and 5 feet wide. The cheese is salted to drain the whey and to regulate the acid development, Baumgartner said.

Then the cheese moves to block-forming towers. Each tower (there are eight of them) can hold 23 blocks. A guillotine cuts the cheese into 40-pound blocks, which are vacuum-sealed in 4-mil bags. These are conveyed to cold storage where they sit for 18 hours before moving to the warehouse. Two sample blocks from every vat are sent to the lab to be analyzed for salt, fat, moisture and other components. After 70 days, the cheese is graded.

Dairy Products Quality Manager Jill Allen earned an American Cheese Graders license from the state of Wisconsin by passing a rigorous examination. Allen is the gatekeeper of all of Tillamook’s dairy products. Besides testing the cheese and ice cream manufactured in Tillamook, she tests the cheese that is produced in Boardman, Ore., and the yogurt, sour cream and butter processed by co-packers and license partners.

In a room in the warehouse, Allen and six co-workers evaluate samples from the first and last blocks of cheese from each vat from each production run. Before they start work, each member of the sensory team is required to have eaten enough for breakfast to be satisfied. (“We don’t want to be full,” Allen said, but neither does she want her team to show up hungry.)

In one day they will sample from 120 to 500 pieces of product. The evaluation involves all the senses. They inspect the color of the cheese for mottling. By smelling the cheese, they can detect fatty acids. Allen bends a plug of cheese to see how and when it breaks. She listens to it, too. She feels the sample for the texture. The cheese should not be sticky. Then the team tastes the sample (although they don’t ingest it), and listens again as the cheese is chewed.

Allen is also the cheese grader. All of Tillamook’s cheeses are naturally aged. She determines which lots become medium, sharp and extra sharp. Her sensory evaluation plays a role in the determination, but so do sales forecasts. Tillamook needs to balance the demands for medium and aged Cheddars. In fact, managing the cheese aging program is one of the most significant challenges Tillamook has.

“Because we are naturally aging our product, the levels of inventory required as well as the time between manufacture and sale can be a challenge given how volatile dairy markets are,” said Jay Allison, vice president of sales
and marketing.

It is rare that Allen rejects an entire production run, but it has happened. If the color is not consistent, Allen might assign the cheese to be shredded because color consistency is not as important as it is for blocks. When cheese does not meet standards, Allen and the production team try to figure out what went wrong. It could be that a salt lance broke without the operator noticing, Allen said, or there was some other problem on the line or with ingredients. In any event, the aim is to correct the problem.

Cheese that is released for sale is conveyed to the packaging room, which is on the other side of the production area. Visitors on the observation deck can see four packaging lines where blocks of cheese are broken down into various portions. The main sizes packaged here are 1-pound, 2-pound, and 5-pound loaves and 8-ounce deli and 10-ounce snack packages. In January, Tillamook outsourced some of its packing operations for efficiencies and to speed the time to market. Two co-packers cut, wrap and distribute the cheese.

Tillamook has been modernizing the plant as new technology and equipment are introduced to the industry. And it replaces equipment that is nearing the end of its lifespan. As part of the facility upgrade, Tillamook is building a new cheesemaking clean-in-place room and installing a new CIP system, as well as a new starter room with new equipment.

Besides construction and equipment, Tillamook has invested in new software that gives multiple departments’ accurate, real-time visibility into inventory and financial transactions across the entire company. This allows Tillamook to deliver more consistently and efficiently to its customers.

Safety is a top priority at Tillamook. Each plant has safety committees consisting of employees and supervisors, and supported by managers. They identify and correct hazards in the workplace. The safety department conducts monthly meetings to train and educate employees about the hazards that may occur in a dairy manufacturing facility. A Tillamook representative said the company has “one of the best injury frequencies in the dairy manufacturing industry.”

Tillamook is certified by the SQF certification program, which is under the Global Food Safety Initiative. The plant is SQF Level 2 certified and was awarded a score of “Excellent” after its most recent SQF audit. The SQF audit is annual, but the plant is audited at least three times a year by third-party agencies for customers, whom Tillamook encourages to visit. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Oregon Department of Agriculture have jurisdiction over the manufacturing processes
at Tillamook.

The processor conducts its own internal audits designed to continuously inspect its food safety systems in order to ensure high quality. Tillamook audits suppliers regularly and travels the country to evaluate and resolve any issues that may occur. There is a tiered system (from low-risk to high-risk) that is based on allergens and ingredients. A scorecard of sorts evaluates supplier performance from quality to on-time delivery. Tillamook uses HACCP to document all of its systems and it follows this model to ensure safe and quality cheese, ice cream and whey products.

Even though hundreds of visitors a day might crowd an observation deck at Tillamook, the eyes that count belong to the cooperative’s skilled cheesemakers, line operators, laboratory analysts and other professionals who oversee the process of manufacturing award-winning premium cheeses.

At A Glance

Tillamook County Creamery Association, Tillamook, Ore.

Interstate Milk Shipper Plant 030: IMS Ratings — 90% raw milk, 90% enforcement (July 2012)

History: The plant was built in 1949. A whey powder plant was added in 1979 and expanded in 1995. The cold storage capacity was expanded in 1984. In the 1990s, cheese manufacturing and packaging capacities were expanded and automated. In 2000, Tillamook added an Automated Storage and Retrieval System automated warehouse. Last year saw the start of facility upgrades, including a starter room and CIP room and new locker rooms and a centralized break room for production employees.

Size: 307,990 square feet

Employees: About 500 (production and non-production). The facility has three shifts.

Products made: Cheese, ice cream and dry sweet whey powder

Processing capacity: About 1.5 million pounds of milk daily

Storage silos: Five 25,000-gallon silos and three 30,000-gallon silos for cheese production. For ice cream production, there are two 10,000-gallon cream silos.

Lines: One cheesemaking line (40-pound blocks); four cheese packaging lines (various weights and cuts); two ice cream filling lines (56-ounce cartons and 3-gallon tubs); one whey manufacturing line (25-kilogram bags)

Warehouse: 8,000 pallets conventional and 15,000 pallets in a high-rise automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). There are approximately 21,000 pallet positions, from 650 in cold storage pick bays to 5,600 pallets specifically used for 40-pound blocks. A refrigerated staging area for shipping has seven bays.