Appleby Creamery, an award-winning, small batch cheese producer based in the Lake District, is aiming to support its traditional manufacturing processes and make its products even more sustainable through the use of IoT.
The system has been designed and deployed by CENSIS.
The project is delivered by CENSIS through its Milk Round technology accelerator, a business and technology accelerator to assist individuals and SMEs associated with the dairy sector to fast-track innovative technologies. Milk Round is part of the £29.5M Digital Dairy Chain, a multi-partner project led by Scotland’s Rural College, which aims to transform the dairy processing supply chain in south and west Scotland, and Cumbria. The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation’s flagship Strength in Places Fund.
The company
Founded in 2007, Appleby Creamery is a company of 12 people. Its cheeses – including brie, blue, and cheddar – can be purchased from a range of retailers including Booth’s and Tebay Services Farm Shop.
The challenge
Producing cheese requires consistent temperatures and humidity levels at different stages of the process to maintain product quality and safety. Prior to the installation of the IoT system, conditions in fridges and ripening rooms were checked and recorded manually during working hours.
The IoT solution
The new system allows the Appleby Creamery team to monitor conditions remotely every 15 minutes, 24 hours per day, and sends real-time alerts if anomalies occur, allowing for a prompt response to prevent the risk of product spoilage.
The system also tracks the energy use of equipment throughout the cheese-making process – from fridges to pasteurisers – with the data displayed on a dashboard developed by CENSIS. This helps the creamery team to make decisions that could save energy and make better use of its on-site renewable sources.
Rolled out over two phases, the project will soon include the installation of sensors to track fuel gas usage and hot and cold water consumption. The data collected will not only enhance cost savings and sustainability, but also automate compliance reporting for metrics such as the creamery’s temperate and humidity.
Additionally, it will provide insights for scaling operations and attracting new investment. The sensing system is low-cost, easy to maintain, and can be readily relocated to monitor different areas of the site.