that are essential to conduct the analysis for continuous improvement,” continues Giulia. “Another important advantage has been the integration of management systems with the production line. This allows us to monitor consumption in real time and to better coordinate planning, scheduling and warehousing,” she says.
Going right to the edge Tomas Marchiani, CEO at Marchiani, explained more about the project: “Perfetti Van Melle asked us to help modernise an existing packaging line. We turned to automation technology vendor, Siemens to work with us to create the best solution for this project.” It was decided that the use of Siemens open edge computing platform ‘Industrial Edge’ would best meet Perfetti Van Melle’s wish to make better use of its process data. Simply explained, the term ‘edge’ refers
to putting computing power closer to the source of data that needs to be processed. On a packaging line, for example, data will be coming from the sensors and devices used to monitor and control the line. Edge computing can speed up the analysis process and gives the ability to act quickly – often in response to real-time data – to avert possible production line problems. Edge computing means that the huge amounts of raw data coming from the production line does not need to travel to the Cloud or servers before it can be analysed. It also saves valuable data storage space.
The Industrial Edge platform enables Perfetti Van Melle to acquire, store, and
analyse a wide range of plant data locally, on the production line. Thanks to its integrated connectivity, the data can be accessed from virtually any third-party system used in confectionery production factories today. The solution also includes an Industrial Edge Management System, which serves as a central platform for monitoring and managing devices and can be hosted either in the cloud or on-site. In addition, it also connections seamlessly to other manufacturing software systems such as Enterprise Resource Systems (ERP) systems and Warehouse Management System (WMS). For Perfetti Van Melle the modernised packaging line has allowed for fast and intuitive analysis of plant data, which helps it reduce unexpected downtimes. The most impressive feature, however, is the central Edge Management System that allows Marchiani to control and service the line remotely and to implement, test, and correct the software from its own office, without needing an engineer to attend the site in person. “The edge solution offered by Siemens allows us to collect data from different machines on the Perfetti Van Melle packaging line, bring it into our system and analyse it to monitor the performance of the line,” explains Tomas. Commenting on the modernised, Industry 4.0 enabled packaging line, Giulia says: “We are now able to visualise performance data and parameters in real-time and to control the entire line. At the same time, production and consumption data are automatically transmitted to the management system.
These results have exceeded our expectations. We can now obtain an accurate overview of performance and downtimes, which serves as the basis for ongoing improvements.”
A look into the future Perfetti Van Melle is now benefitting from the optimal utilisation of its production data. It is able to visualise performance data and process parameters in real time and can utilise data from the field for a variety of purposes that help boost its competitiveness. In the future, the company is planning to implement this level of automation on other production lines. “Naturally, we will aim to start with overloaded lines, where we expect to see the greatest improvements to processes, including increased OEE (overall equipment efficiency), quality and safety,” explains Ripa. “This has been an exciting project for us and has met all our expectations. We now have a high level of interfacing on the packaging line with both upsteam and downstream systems and with our management and warehousing systems too. This has definitely improved our levels of efficiency,” he concludes. Perfetti Van Melle’s experience offers a great
example of the benefits that digitalisation can offer confectionery manufacturers. Further, it demonstrates how the adoption of edge technology as part of a digitalisation project can enable real-time monitoring and control of production lines; can bring predictive maintenance strategies to life; and can provide on-site data analysis for optimising. It is clear that edge technology is now an important piece of any digitalisation puzzle.
KennedysConfection.com
Kennedy’s Confection May 2024
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