In dairies milk is processed in many different ways. Finished dairy products flow in pipelines through the process controlled by valves. Various failures caused by internal or external reasons may appear over time weakening the process. This reduces the production capacity causing a harmful production loss. An example of internal failures is faults in the seals of magnetic valves causing a leak in the process thus contaminating the product. The seals can only be inspected from inside the tubing or by disassembling them. The inspection of valves one by one used to be time consuming and expensive. To detect the faults a device suitable for industrial use has been developed, i.e. an endoscope which facilitates the inspection of faults. The endoscope is widely used in medical applications. It allows a visual image from locations which can’t be seen normally.

This Bachelor’s thesis was commissioned by Valio Oy Jyväskylä dairy plant. The aim of the thesis was to examine the use of the endoscope in an industrial field. The dairy plant is specialized in lactose free liquid dairy products. The dairy invested in a video-endoscope in spring 2014 but only few studies exist on the suitability of the industrial endoscopy in food industry. The purpose of the thesis was to investigate the possibilities, the benefits and possible disadvantages of using the endoscope in industrial applications. Another aim was to examine the suitability of the endoscope in the preventive maintenance of valves in a dairy and its use in other applications. The profitability and viability of the industrial endoscope was studied by investigating the annual statistic figures and deviations of production and the time spent on valve maintenance.

The results of the study show that the endoscope makes it easier to examine the valve faults. It is also useful in other applications helping to prevent the production loss. It proved to be a very profitable investment and the use of endoscope is considered to be introduced in other Valio plants in preventive service of dairy processes.