MilkOcheck: The Next Big Thing in Calibration

Ultrasonic Milk Analyzer is one of the most widely used milk testing equipment at village-level to preliminary check the Fat and SNF (Solid not Fat) content in the milk. So, when a farmer brings milk at the milk collection centre, based on the readings in the Milk Analyzer, the quality of the milk is determined and the payment is made to the farmer. Hence, accurate calibration of the Milk Analyzers is important to ensure right quality of milk in the supply chain and fair remuneration to the farmers.

Despite this, significance of calibration of Milk Analyzers is largely under-valued in the industry because of various challenges.

• Large number of fresh milk samples is required to be arranged
• Due to perishable nature of milk or low shelf life, freshness of milk sample cannot be as certained
• Milk samples with low, medium and high range of Fat and SNF are required to be arranged for calibrating the Milk Analyzer.
• Milk Analyzers are installed at remote locations in villages, so they need to be brought to a central location
• Calibration is done manually currently. Hence, rather than following scientific process, calibration process is dependent on human experience or judgement
• Manual intervention in calibration is prone to human error and malpractices
• Log of calibration history is not maintained – when was the machine last calibrated, who calibrated, which was the reference machine, etc.
• No provision of calibrating the machine online from a central location, service engineer needs to travel to remote locations to calibrate the machine
• Lack of assurance of fair payment may lead to distrust amongst farmers
• Lack of assurance of milk quality can impact brand image of the dairy

In its Pursuit of Purity and to help the dairy industry overcome its challenges, Prompt DairyTech developed India’s first, patented system to check calibration status of Ultrasonic Milk Analyzer on-site, in real-time.

MilkOcheck system includes a specialized liquid solution- which mimics properties of raw milk, and is composed of various range of Fat and SNF. The liquid solution acts as a reference sample for checking the status of calibration of Milk Analyzer. This eliminates the need of obtaining various fresh milk samples for the dairy. MilkOcheck liquid is further bundled with a special App and a web portal, which uses Image Processing/ Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence techniques. These advanced techniques automatically fetch sample readings from Milk Analyzer when it is being checked with MilkOcheck liquid solution. Based on the sample readings data, the App and web portal declare the calibration status (calculated scientifically)– whether the machine requires calibration or not. If the machine requires calibration, the same can be done online. The entire calibration log is maintained online, and data can be used for business analysis.

The entire process is digital and does not require any manual intervention. Further, it is done from a central dairy location, thus, there is no need to move the machine, leading to savings in operational and financial cost. Through MilkOcheck, dairies from a central location can check the calibration status of Milk Analyzers installed at various remote village locations in real-time.

What makes MilkOcheck more relevant for the dairy industry is that the shelf life of the innovative liquid solution is as high as 30 days as against 1-2 days for fresh milk sample.

MilkOcheck aided system ensures correct calibration of the Milk Analyzer, thereby assuring the right quality of milk in the milk supply chain and fair payments to the farmer. With its ground-breaking capabilities to practically solve the existing challenges  in the calibration of Ultrasonic Milk Analyzer, MilkOcheck is indeed the next big thing in the history of the calibration of milk testing equipment.

To know more about MilkOcheck, how it is used and what are its benefits, click here.