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Vidya Dairy: India's First Student Dairy
Anand in Gujarat State is the Mecca for dairymen. World-famous AMUL (Anand Milk Union Ltd.) is
located here. So is the Vidya (education) Dairy, the first student
dairy in the country. This dairy, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, is a
modern training plant. Students here receive excellent all round
hands-on training in the plant. Not only that, students also
run Vidya Dairy in a commercially viable way.
An autonomous unit, the 100,000 lpd
capacity Vidya Dairy was set up by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the Dairy Science College, affiliated to
Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU), at Anand. Located in the campus of GAU on 50
hectares of land with total investment of about Rs 15 crore, this Dairy was financed by the NDDB under the Operation Flood III Program.
Commissioned in February 1994, Vidya Dairy's key
objective is to provide students an opportunity to have first-hand experience of modern
dairy processing and management practices. These include:
 | plant operation and maintenance |
| quality control |
| marketing |
| purchase |
| store and accounts management. |
| It also provides R&D facilities in the fields of product development,
dairy engineering, process technology, packing and essential plant management-related
subjects. |
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Manufacturing facilities
It purchases milk from the Amul Dairy chilling centers. It has 1.2 lakh liters of silo capacity to hold raw and pasteurized milk,
used in various manufacturing processes. It is the first dairy in India which has an
automatic plant for milk reception and processing. It also has an
effluent treatment plant to treat all liquid waste, in accordance with the statutory requirement for waste water discharge.
Vidya Dairy has the technology to produce packaged pasteurized
milk, ghee, processed cheese, ice-cream and UHT products. Its main product is
pasteurized, standardized milk, packed in 500 ml pouches. It can
pack 60,000 liters a day.
The Dairy's average daily ghee-making capacity is
approximately 2,000 kgs. A packaging machine can pack ghee in 1 kg polythene
pouches. Its daily cheese production capacity, based on three shifts, is approximately
2,000 kgs of natural cheese. After maturing, this quantity would yield
about 2,500 kgs of processed cheese. The Dairy has two
continuous ice-cream freezers and an ice-cream cup filler.
The Ultra-High-Temperature (UHT) aseptic packaging
plant has a capacity to pack 700 liters of product per hour
in 200 ml Tetrabriks and 250 liters per hour in 20 ml Tetrahedrons.
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Operations
A unique feature of the training is the active
involvement of student-trainees in carrying out various functions on a rotation basis.
Vidya Dairy plant operates on a three-shift, round the clock basis, with manufacturing
generally confined to the day and afternoon shifts. The packaged milk is mainly dispatched
during the night shift.All plant functions are grouped in nine
work-areas. The student-trainees are also divided in nine
groups. Each group, therefore, works in each work-area for 40 days in rotation.
Students gain confidence in each function through hands-on practice under the guidance of experts. Regular review
sessions help students clarify their technical doubts, if any, and provide them
solid technical support. This also helps in attending to their weak
areas.
Each student-trainee is provided with a technical
operating manual on dairy as a reference guide. The manual includes details of
various product processes, equipment and other support functions. Exercises are also given
in the manual to sharpen student-trainee's skill.
While close attention is paid to students' skill
improvement, confidence building and discipline, their work performance is also regularly evaluated through a well-designed training assessment.
Its criteria include technical advancement, work quality, work output, consciousness of
sanitation and waste control, meticulousness and punctuality.
Vidya Dairy is operating as a commercially viable,
self-supporting venture. Its products are marketed through the established
distribution systems, assisted by Anand-based Gujarat Cooperative
Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). It attempts to coordinate knowledge with
experience. Its student-trainees are an integral part of the management and operational
staff. They actively contribute to the efficient and profitable functioning of the dairy.
And, they step out from here as real professionals.
Another student dairy on the same lines
has been set up at the Dairy Science College attached to the National
Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, Haryana.
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