Product focus


Does process effi ciency impact my quality?


Chocolate manufacturers and cocoa processors fi nd themselves in a highly demanding and cost sensitive market environment. In addition, the current energy situation raises the need for effi cient processes. But does a high effi ciency go hand in hand with high quality standards?


B


ühler has always been meeting these market challenges with well-tried chocolate-making solutions and has created an all-round carefree service portfolio. High- class maintenance, revisions and customized retrofi ts have permitted that machines modernize together


with your company. Meanwhile, digitalization has become both, a new challenge for a traditional industry and an opportunity for creating true added value. Therefore, Bühler has created an ecosystem of digital solutions


and services which aims to empower the performance of your production plant. This digital journey is a long run on whose fi nish line awaits the smart chocolate plant… but step-by step.


A learning system The R&D Team “Sense and Control” have been evaluating the best sensors on the market and implemented them into our solutions. With the process knowledge of Bühler in the back they initiated and perfectionated services like FineSensTM, Capacity Boost and Plasticity Control. FineSens for example, can be installed in your Five Roll Refi ner and measures the fi neness of particles on the fi fth roll and can automatically correct the parameters on the machine control to reach the desired fi neness. This way the output quality of your refi ner can be adjusted to your needs immediately. Within the scope of this capacity boost a camera system, installed in the refi ner, will detect deviations in fi lm coverage on the fi fth roll. Also, with this feature process parameters of the refi ner will be adjusted autonomously. The result is a constant quality and fi neness and an optimal throughput for both small batch productions and continuous lines. Plasticity Control is another new feature which, after the


Prerefi ner controls the plasticity of the product. This adds another puzzle piece to a consistent production.


The common purpose of these service products is to measure,


collect data, adjust, and improve but foremost to leverage the effi ciency of your processes.


Insights – the power of data


Data is complex and requires precise interpretation from experts. Bühler Insights is the tool that provides this


12 Kennedy’s Confection October 2022 KennedysConfection.com


connectivity. Data from the whole plant will be collected and provided to you in a form that is interpretable. Within this exchange you can track your processes and identify potential. As an additional feature your data can be shared with Bühler experts for remote analysis. Predictive maintenance is another project feature within Bühler Insights whose goal is to predict the wear of a roller based on the Insight data and notify the operator who can then order the roll exchange on myBühler. Use the learnings from Insights to avoid downtime, improve your effi ciency and reduce waste and emissions.


When things come together The last steps to the fi nish line still must be taken and they are big steps. But when things are coming together, and process knowledge combined with machines that autonomously improve their operation it is as if your best operator would work on every station and this around the clock. To come back to the initial question. Effi ciency and quality are not opposite poles. The sensors and control have a direct impact on the consistency of product put through the processes, permit an uninterrupted production and therefore, improve both, effi ciency, and quality of the product.


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