Worth around $40m (€30.2m), the deal involves SPX equipping the new plant – which it claims will be one of the largest fresh dairy and yogurt plants in China – that will produce pasteurised milk, ultra-high temperature (UHT) long self life milk and yogurt.
North Carolina-based SPX will design and install full-line fresh dairy and yogurt processing systems at Bright Dairy’s 155,000m2 Shanghai facility, which is now under construction.
The US firm expects its Flow Technology segment to finish kitting-out the site during 2012, while Bright Dairy expects to start production in early 2013.
According to SPX, the new plant will expand Bright Dairy’s overall production capacity to more than 2.1m litres of milk per day, and consolidate fresh milk and yogurt production within one site.
Don Cantema, SPX segment president, said: “The plant will utilise SPX’s latest innovations for dairy processing, which are focused on greater efficiencies for Bright Dairy in milk processing, clean-in-place cleaning, heat recovery and water recirculation.
Recent statistics from research firm Euromonitor International show that overall Chinese dairy sales reached $28bn in 2011, up 8.5% from 2010, and are projected to reach $40bn in 2014.
Stirred, drinking and functional yogurt sales – the main product types that Bright Dairy’s new site will produce – are projected to grow by up to 20% over the next two years.
“Bright Dairy is one of the largest dairy companies in China, and is well-positioned to help meet growing demand across China for fresh milk, ultra-high temperature long shelf life milk and yogurt,” Cantema added.
“We look forward to leveraging out deep expertise in dairy processing technologies to help Bright Dairy establish the largest multi-product dairy facility in China’s dairy industry.”