FOOD INDUSTRY FOCUS

UK2 March 2019 http://www.controlengeurope.com Control Engineering UK

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GET SMART TO STAY AHEAD

Suzanne Gill finds out where the food industry is on its ‘smart factory’ journey and gets

advice about how to make use of new technologies to become more productive and

flexible to meet rapidly changing consumer demands.

T

he move towards more

connected, data-driven food

and drink production and

packaging plants looks set to

accelerate, driven by a need

to apply greater levels of automation

to enable leaner and more efficient

production. According to Research and

Market’s Food Automation Market

• Global Opportunity and Industry
  Forecast report, the sector is expected to
  expand at a compound annual growth
  rate of 7.1% to 2022.
  Martin Walder, VP industry at
  Schneider Electric, believes that putting
  smart devices on the factory floor is
  the answer to many of the challenges
  facing the food processing industry
  today. He said: “Manufacturers are now
  being tasked with keeping pace with
  rapidly changing consumer demands for
  personalisation, customisation, quality
  and choice. They are also challenged
  with cutting costs, while reducing times
  to market.
  “Thanks to technology advances,
  including the Industrial Internet of
  Things (IIoT) cobotics and augmented
  reality, factories now have the tools to
  allow them to become truly smart. A
  ‘smart factory’ is one that is equipped
  with a high level of automation and
  connectivity – with both suppliers and
  customers. The key expectation from
  a smart factory is to enhance quality,
  delivery service and efficiency. Such
  factories will have a smart power
  infrastructure, smart environmental
  controls and will be fully collaborative
  with the automation systems.”
  Walder warns that any
  manufacturing operations that do
  not adopt digital technologies will be
  marginalised – if not lost. “Ultimately,
  these technologies are becoming critical
  for maintaining competitiveness,” he

said. “We are already seeing several

food manufacturers reap the benefits

of these technologies, with increased

control and visual capabilities over the

production line. Automation does not

come without its challenges, but the

benefits are now becoming clear.”

Meaningful data

Russell Morgan, sales manager UK and

Ireland at Mettler-Toledo, says that

the drive to digitalisation is allowing

organisations to collate and interpret

meaningful data from across plant

operations, providing real-time status

information about the manufacturing

and packaging process. He said:

“Improved connectivity is enabling

checkweighers to automatically adjust

filling machine settings. Data on product

rejects is much easier to export and

evaluate, allowing quality indicators to

be shared with customers. In addition,

emulation techniques enable remote

performance monitoring and settings

adjustment for product changeovers,

improving efficiency.

“Employing digitised solutions can

also support operation management

to keep production running, avoiding

downtime and planning maintenance

repairs at the right time.”

At the 2018 PPMA show, Rexroth

demonstrated some Industry 4.

solutions in action.

Andrew Minturn, business

development and strategic product

manager at Rexroth, said: “ Once

adopted, digital solutions will help

manufacturers to make the most of

every asset in their facility, helping

them to operate more efficiently and

productively, essentially improving their

competitiveness in the marketplace.

“Industry 4.0 has started to be

adopted by manufacturers in all

industries over recent years. It is often

the small changes which will offer

the most value, like installing a new

conveyor system which can sit within a

connected factory to deliver results from

the moment of installation.”

Embracing the concept

Andy MacPherson, food & beverage

industry manager at Festo, says that

food manufacturers are beginning

to embrace the concept of industrial

digitalisation and the potential it

can offer – improving production

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