The aim of process integration is to increase the efficiency and to reduce the energy consumption, operating costs and CO 2 emissions of an industrial process. The proposed methodology is applied to a real case study of a cheese factory with non-simultaneous process operations and uses the time average approach combined with restricted matches. This work focuses on appropriate heat pump integration and two different integration strategies are proposed. In the first option, process modifications and direct heat exchange between the process and heat pump streams are not allowed, which means that the integration of heat pumps has to be realized through intermediate heat transfer networks. On the contrary, in the second option, direct heat exchange and process modifications are possible. The results of both options are analyzed and compared for the French and German context. Depending on the industrial constraints and the location, it is shown that the final choice of new heat pump installations may be different. Saving potential in operating costs is higher for option 2 where the cost savings can be higher than 40% for both countries. Furthermore the potential CO 2 emissions and primary energy savings are compared. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.