At Vinamilk's Vietnam Powdered Milk Factory in Binh Duong, TP HCM, the entire production line operates with high autonomy and automation. Each stage is continuously monitored by machinery and a dedicated team, ensuring accuracy from the outset.

The production process for a can of milk involves: controlling incoming raw materials, blending, drying, aseptic filling in a cleanroom, and packaging the finished product on a highly automated line. Before leaving the factory, each product batch undergoes multiple rigorous quality checks to ensure consistency and safety.

"Doing it right from the start"

Tran Ngoc Huy, Director of the Vietnam Powdered Milk Factory, states that the principle of "doing it right from the start" not only minimizes errors but also enables continuous traceability and control across the entire line. "This is particularly important for children's products, where every standard must be verified multiple times before market release", Huy explains.

Tran Ngoc Huy, Director of the Vietnam Powdered Milk Factory. Photo: Vinamilk

At Vinamilk, quality control begins with raw material selection. Only supplies meeting standards from partners in Europe, North America, and Australia are integrated into the production process. To ensure comprehensive traceability, each imported raw material batch comes with a Certificate of Analysis (COA) and is stored online for five years. Upon arrival at the factory, materials undergo on-site physical-chemical testing before entering production.

Subsequently, every stage is continuously monitored until the finished product is complete. This approach allows Vinamilk to maintain a closed-loop process, minimizing risks so that each product reaching consumers is strictly controlled from the very beginning.

Vinamilk owns a system of powdered milk drying towers located directly within the factory, enabling proactive control over the entire production process. Photo: Vinamilk

Beyond selecting the right ingredients, Vinamilk controls the entire raw material processing within the factory. The factory features two separate drying towers, allowing for autonomous blending and processing of powdered milk components. This stage is crucial because powdered milk contains not only milk powder but also vegetable oils, vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients that must be blended in precise proportions.

Since 2013, Vinamilk has invested nearly 100 million USD to own its drying tower system directly within the factory, enabling self-sufficiency in the raw material drying stage. This ensures that the entire process, from blending to raw material treatment, is controlled in a closed environment, guaranteeing uniformity and stability for each milk formula. With each drying tower standing 32 meters high, equivalent to a 5-story building, Vinamilk can supply portions for millions of children annually.

Successive layers of inspection

Inside the factory, a can of milk travels through the production line in just a few minutes. Yet, in that brief period, the can passes through dozens of consecutive review steps.

At Vinamilk, "control as you go" is the guiding operational principle, with each stage having its own monitoring mechanism.

Personnel supervise each packaging stage at Vinamilk. Photo: Vinamilk

In addition to product quality control, Vinamilk also proactively produces its own packaging to fully preserve quality from the outside.

During the production phase, food-grade tin sheets imported from Japan are fed directly into the can-forming line. A camera system inspects the can's interior from the shaping stage, before the can is sterilized by UV lamps and inverted during movement to prevent dust and microorganisms from entering.

The filling area is located in a sterile cleanroom, where air is continuously filtered 25 times per hour. Here, milk does not contact the external environment throughout the filling and packaging process. Personnel entering this area must undergo a strict disinfection procedure and wear full protective gear. Milk powder circulates in a closed system to limit oxygen exposure, helping preserve product quality. After filling, milk cans undergo further physical-chemical, microbiological, and sensory tests. Each finished product batch stores five control samples and is tested at an ISO 17025-certified lab for traceability when needed.

Technology and human collaboration

Despite operating a highly automated factory, Vinamilk maintains multiple layers of quality control using both technology and direct sensory evaluation. The automated system continuously monitors temperature, pressure, humidity, and product composition to detect deviations early on the line. Simultaneously, a dedicated technical team directly assesses the color, state, and consistency of raw powder. When the product is complete, inspection also includes actual taste perception.

According to a factory representative, before any product batch leaves the warehouse, the factory director and production director personally take samples to taste, comparing technical data with real-world experience.

Powdered milk products are packaged at Vinamilk. Photo: Vinamilk

Vinamilk also offers factory tours, allowing consumers to directly observe the production process, from cleanrooms and drying towers to the can packaging line and quality inspection. According to Tran Ngoc Huy, for children's products, trust comes not just from advertising but also from the ability to verify quality in person.

Huy notes that consumers are increasingly concerned about product quality and transparency, especially for children's food. He believes this places higher demands on businesses to control quality, from raw materials and production processes to the purity of ingredients in each can of milk.

In 2023, all of Vinamilk's children's powdered milk brands received the Purity Award from Clean Label Project, meeting over 400 criteria for quality and production conditions. "These awards require businesses to maintain strict control standards from raw materials to finished products, while ensuring transparency in information on packaging", the Director of the Vietnam Powdered Milk Factory adds.

Yen Chi