INDUSTRY FOCUS FOOD & BEVERAGE
Putting downtime to good use P
lanned downtime is a critical part of the production cycle, allowing
maintenance and plant engineers to assess the status of equipment and ensure it is fully functional and make planned repairs and upgrades. While necessary, this process has traditionally been a bugbear of many plant managers. Yet the development of smart technologies is changing this, says Robert Glass, global communications manager for ABB’s food and beverage program. The digitalisation boom of the past
decade has had a significant impact on industrial plants. The advent of technologies such as smart robotics, cloud computing and predictive analytics means there is little preventing businesses from adopting an always-on approach to operation. However, the main reason this is not yet a widespread reality is planned system downtime, which is always a necessity. Of course, planned downtime itself is
not a bad thing. During a set period, production lines and equipment are temporarily switched off so that maintenance engineers can assess the health of the system, make repairs and clean equipment. This is particularly important for the food and beverage industry, where hygiene is critical and production equipment must be contaminant-free. Production lines must continuously operate reliably and safely, which is preferable to unplanned downtime due to fault or failure.
tested maintenance paradigm. Instead of carrying out reactive maintenance on equipment and systems when things go wrong, engineers can conduct predictive maintenance that pre-empts problems. Therefore, plant managers can truly realise the potential of digitalisation and interconnected devices. For example, most food processing
However, this still poses an issue for
plant managers because any downtime, scheduled or otherwise, results in a dip in production. In continuous production industries like food manufacturing and processing, the hours lost to scheduled maintenance can account for a noticeable short-term fall in business profitability. This is exacerbated by the fact that downtime has not traditionally been scheduled using operational performance data, which may result in poor timing. The solution to this is to plan
maintenance work on specific systems separately, using performance data collected by smart technologies as an indicator of equipment health. Plant managers can review this accumulated data during planned downtime, allowing
plants include some form of conveyor system, which are nearly always operational. Electric motors are used throughout the system, yet because motors can be difficult to access and see into, its health is typically not known, and they are run until they stop. As a motor’s health deteriorates, performance drops significantly and there are several consequences such as elevated vibration levels and temperature. Using a smart sensor on motors to
monitor and assess its health allows plant managers to make an informed assessment. They can then use this data to identify when a motor needs maintenance and to schedule it accordingly. Plant managers should also use periods of planned downtime to review historic performance data and identify any patterns or trends.
ABB
www.new.abb.com/food-beverage
Food-safe printing
Needham Coding Limited (part of The Needham Group) has expanded its ‘N’ series of own- brand continuous inkjet (CIJ) printers. The company has added several models for specialist global food grade, ultra-violet, heavy pigment and small character applications. Needham Coding’s new N32 FG is a food grade CIJ printer specially designed for harsh
production environments and for use with food grade inks supplied by sister company, Needham Inks Limited. Compatible with FDA, EU and other compliant inks, the N32 FG is capable of printing directly onto food products, such as eggs, fruit and vegetables. The N32 FG model is manufactured in a clean room environment and available with a diverse range of food grade inks. This includes self-disinfecting ink formulations that
enable food products to be printed directly with fast drying edible red or blue ink. The N32 UV CIJ printer has been developed to meet the demands of hidden security and traceability applications. It prints invisible codes that are only made visible when exposed to UV light. The clear, UV readable and fast drying ink provides adhesion on most surfaces, it is alcohol resistant and also steam sterilisable. Needham Coding’s N32 M is a small character inkjet print that accurately and reliably prints from 0.6mm up to 10mm image heights. It operates at
speeds up to 400 metres per minute and features an IP65 rated enclosure, making it suitable for high-pressure washdown. Elsewhere, the N32 P is a heavy pigment industrial printer for operation with a range of heavy pigment inks available in various colours and
specifications. It enables dark substrates to be printed with bright, high contrast yellow and white inks. The yellow pigment system prints with high contrast yellow pigment ink providing bright yellow, readable codes on dark surfaces. Unique micro-pigment formulation and ink circulation system provide uniform colourant dispersion without complex fluid or stirring mechanisms.
Needham Coding
www.needham-coding.com T: 0114 2570007
them to use the time productively to devise an informed and data-driven approach to maintenance in the future. This process effectively shifts the time-
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SEPTEMBER 2017 | FACTORY EQUIPMENT
/ FACTORYEQUIPMENT
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