The performances of falling film evaporators used in the New Zealand dairy industry for concentrating whole milk were evaluated by determining kg steam used/kg water evaporated, and the heat transfer coefficient of each pass in the evaporators. A specially written computer program was used to calculate the results. The heat transfer coefficients varied from 0·3 to 3·0 kW/m2K, and the steam consumption from 0·10 to 0·39 kg steam/kg evaporation, depending on the number of effects. The steam consumptions for whole and skim milk were similar. The momentum of the vapours passing down the tubes, the temperature difference across the tubes, the viscosity of the feed and the liquid loading were found to be the main factors controlling the heat transfer coefficient. A correlation between the heat transfer coefficient and these factors is presented, and other factors likely to have an influence on the performance are discussed. The correlation is compared with that obtained for skim milk.