Ever.Ag unveils “revolutionary cheese yield” leveraging AI

22 Jan 2024 --- Texas-based Ever.Ag has launched Cheese Yield Optimization, its latest solution making use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to help cheese manufacturers maximize efficiency, reduce waste and increase profitability.

The dairy industry faces immense challenges, including significant variability and unpredictability in milk composition, loss of operational knowledge due to an aging workforce and slim profit margins.

https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/dairy-solutions-balancing-plant-based-solutions-with-traditional-dairy-crucial-for-industry.html 

Additionally, cheese-making creates a “living” product with challenges predicting what will come out of the next vat due to variables traditionally stuck in a single cheese maker’s head. 

Optimizing yield 
Ever.Ag’s Cheese Yield Optimization is designed to give manufacturers “unprecedented visibility” into the performance of their operations. Its Cheese Yield Optimization program digitizes most of the cheese production process, analyzes the data to provide actionable recommendations to make operators in real-time and provides suggested recipe changes for future production. 

These recommendations are based on machine learning and AI and quantify the difference between optimum yields and undergraduate production to the operations and financial teams. 

“The Cheese Yield Optimization learns from existing and new data sets to highlight operational improvements without removing the ‘art’ of making cheese. The system does this with recommendations tailored to the user. Using existing data sets means customers will receive results in as little as 90 days vs. 12 to 15 months,” explains Ryan Mertes, head of manufacturing solutions. 

This enables cheese plants to understand exactly what products they are making and optimize their processes accordingly. Instead of relying on intuition built over decades, the company’s AI assistant enhances decision-making to improve product consistency, quality and yield. 

The benefits are said to be “game-changing,” enabling 1-3% margin improvements worth millions of dollars through yield improvements and undergrade reductions. 

Simon Drake, EVP of data science solutions, agrees that “this AI-driven solution is a game changer for the cheese industry.”

“It combines our expertise in AI with our deep understanding of dairy processes to create a tool that enhances efficiency and preserves the unique artistry of cheese making,” he notes.

“By integrating AI into cheese production, we’re enabling manufacturers to maintain and elevate the quality and consistency of their products. This technology represents a significant step forward in supporting the dairy industry’s move toward more sustainable and profitable practices, ensuring that the time-honored cheese-making tradition thrives in the modern era,” he adds.

Edited by Elizabeth Green