DIGITALISATION The benefits of digitalisation
Syntegon’s cloud-based solution can keep track of production and machine data.
Kennedy’s Confection spoke to Elisa Hein, product Manager Expert Services at Syntegon, to find out more about the benefits that digitalisation can offer confectionery producers.
Q: What are the key drivers that are convincing confectionery producers to digitalise their processes? Production across industries, including confectionery, has become increasingly faster and more safety-driven over the years. While automation accounts for more efficient and reproducible processes, it also poses a considerable challenge. Production is now so complex that operators cannot monitor the different steps without help any longer. Moreover, production data must always be readily available to verify product quality and process efficiency. In times of smaller batches and frequent changeovers, the latter has become a key priority in the industry. Companies across the confectionery sector and beyond are
therefore turning to digital solutions. The ability to collect production and machine data opens up new opportunities – an important consideration for the confectionery sector, in particular where product innovations abound. Brands need to be able to efficiently resume production after adapting the equipment, for example for sugar-free recipes. Here, digital monitoring solutions can offer a major benefit since they provide information on the machine status and output. This, in turn, enables service experts like Syntegon to offer customer- specific support and ensure that appropriate maintenance measures are taken at an early stage. This allows confectioners to increase their machine availability by minimising production downtimes. Moreover, monitoring solutions help to reduce operator interventions on the shopfloor, which proves crucial in times of skilled labour shortages.
KennedysConfection.com
Q: Where is a good place on the factory floor for confectionery producers to start their digitalisation journey? Effective digitalisation comprises several components of a given line, preferably all machines along the production chain. The more systems a company integrates into its digital strategy, the greater the transparency over key performance indicators (KPIs) and production status. Early access to live data, in turn, enables comprehensive analyses to be quickly and easily performed on production capacity, output, pending tasks or malfunctions. To achieve this, confectionery producers first need to connect production equipment to their chosen digital solutions. New Syntegon machines can help here, as they are Internet of Things (IoT) ready and feature connectivity tools, while existing machines can be retrofitted with additional sensors. These systems access important machine data via either sensors or the equipment’s controllers. Syntegon’s cloud-based solution for the collection, evaluation, and visualisation of machine and production data can takes performance monitoring one step further. The solution is available in three consecutive packages (Monitor, Uptime, Empower) and allows manufacturers to live-track production progress – besides identifying bottlenecks, it can help producers unlock further potential for improvement via continuous performance benchmarking and by evaluating waste and energy consumption.
Kennedy’s Confection May 2023 31
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