Case Studies

Clean-In-Place and Sanitation Program Turnaround

2 minute read

The Client

Mid-sized dairy and meat processor

The Challenge

The organization had commissioned a new cheese processing plant and wastewater treatment facility. However, an inspection revealed significant sanitation issues that prevented the plant’s functionality.

Gaps in the client’s sanitation program were causing critical wastewater treatment organisms to die off, which resulted in penalties and two OSHA incidents due to misusing chemicals during the Clean-In-Place (CIP) process. Additionally, the existing Sanitation Manager didn’t have the ability to fix the issue or lead the organization in the development of a better sanitation strategy.

Additional challenges included:

• Hidden failures causing massive product loss: Over one million pounds of cheese were lost due to undetected CIP and manual cleaning failures.
• Critical maintenance breakdowns: Severe valve, pump, and piping failures went unresolved, exacerbated by absent leadership and insufficient resources.
• Undetected cross-contamination: Cultured cheese production was causing sterility failures across other product lines, with no awareness or containment strategy in place.
• Organizational dysfunction: A politically charged environment hindered progress, with sanitation validation blocked by Quality, OSHA risks ignored by Safety, and disengaged Operations leadership.
• High-pressure timelines: Executive demands led to overnight shifts and around-the-clock efforts to rapidly validate sanitation circuits.
• Resource constraints: Efforts to fix sanitation and maintenance challenges were limited by a lack of qualified personnel, limited stockroom support, and overwhelming production pressures.

The Solution

Catena Solutions deployed a Facility Sanitation Expert to resolve the existing CIP problem and develop a better sanitation strategy. The consultant:

• Diagnosed and prevented product losses by identifying the valve, pump, and CIP system failures that were causing cheese loss and sterility issues.
• Directed a sanitation system overhaul, calibrating and validating 105 CIP circuits, optimizing sanitation parameters, authoring documentation, and completing testing ahead of schedule.
• Improved production line sterility by diagnosing and eliminating cross-contamination risks from cultured cheese lines through enhanced segregation practices.
• Restructured the workforce and built team capability by reorganizing sanitation shifts, mentoring supervisors, and advising leadership on staffing decisions to improve long-term stability.
• Enhanced data accuracy and accountability by correcting misreported sanitation issues, ensuring accurate root cause analysis.
• Enhanced plant safety and compliance by identifying key sanitation-related safety risks and recommending new software and practices to improve plant safety protocols.

The consultant was able to drive this solution using their unique background of engineering, sanitation, and operations experience in the food and beverage industry. This included critically examining each CIP circuit and manual cleaning process, partnering with Operations, Engineering, and Maintenance resources to fix systemic issues from the original installation that weren’t properly addressed.

The Benefit

1. Reduced product waste by 90% within five months, decreasing losses from over 1 million pounds to just 110,000 pounds from December 2024 to April 2025.
2. Achieved over $700K in sanitation cost savings by optimizing chemical use and eliminating redundant vendor projects, while also preventing future capital expenses tied to wastewater treatment upgrades.
3. Stabilized production after recurring shutdowns through resolving underlying sanitation and maintenance failures (e.g. freezing pipes, failed pumps/valves) that had caused multiple 3.5+ day production halts.
4. Established sanitation process standards by developing baseline documentation for sanitation and CIP processes, creating a foundation for consistent, auditable operations.
5. Improving team capability and oversight through training supervisors in both Sanitation and Operations to manage and verify cleaning processes effectively, ensuring long-term sustainability of improvements.

These results were achieved through a highly self-directed approach, engaging frontline employees, and collaborating with internal and external teams to meet corporate goals, all during a period without a Plant Manager or Maintenance Manager on site.

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