In 1814, missionary Samuel Marsden arrived in New Zealand with a bull and two heifers. Today, the cow population in this tiny green country is up to 3.5 million, just about equaling the human population of 4 million. The industrious cows produce about 13 billion litres of milk a year.

In fact, in October 2002, New Zealand cows produced 215,000 tonnes of dairy product – enough to provide a glass of milk for every man, woman and child on the planet. Some 98 percent of this huge milk production is exported, making New Zealand the largest exporter of dairy products in the world.

The face behind the New Zealand dairy industry is Fonterra, the world’s sixth largest dairy company. It represents virtually the entire New Zealand dairy industry – more than 13,000 farmer suppliers – manufacturing and marketing nearly 2 million tonnes of dairy ingredients annually. It operates 29 plants in New Zealand and 38 manufacturing sites worldwide, which produce both bulk dairy ingredients and consumer products (under the New Zealand Milk division).

But despite these mind-boggling statistics, Fonterra is responsible for the complete “cow-to-consumer” supply chain. And key to Fonterra’s job is to make the bit in the middle – the complex manufacturing operations – as clean, reliable and accountable to highest standards as possible.

Meanwhile, the industry has what’s known as the “flush,” which is the height of the season when cows produce staggering amounts of milk. This season’s flush occurred in October. On the peak day suppliers’cows produced more than 70 million litres.

This huge volume of milk puts extra challenges on the mechanical function of dairy plants because they must operate at full capacity for several weeks, and a lot of time is spent cleaning during processes to make sure the high standards are maintained. SKF New Zealand is working with Fonterra to deal with these challenges, providing products and reliability services.

In the end, the cows keep producing and the customers keep ordering products. No one really notices the men in the middle who keep the high standards consistently high.