Will a drought in West Africa affect the global cocoa supply? Yes of course. Any drastic climatic change affects crop across the globe every year.
We don’t have much control over nature, but that’s another topic for discussion, but variability in raw ingredients, and how these variables interact with the atmospheric conditions throughout the production process has a significant impact on production performance. So, if we could predict how this variability will impact performance then we can adapt recipes, processes and machines in real time. This will give us greater process control, increasing productivity and agility
With IoT data software solutions production
conditions can be predicted and mitigated before it can cause wastage and
losses in the food and beverage industry. But we as an industry have only
scratched the surface of data analytics and digitalisation, and there’s a lot
more that can be done.
Real time data capture allows us to understand
production at a factory from every perspective. If we look at environmental
change where conditions like humidity level keep fluctuating on an hourly basis
this can be monitored and controlled using Siemens’ SIMATIC controllers.
Furthermore, measuring and tracking variability and
devices that control the temperature is exacted and implemented through IoT and
cloud technologies like Siemens’ open IoT operating system, MindSphere.
When these processes are in place it gives factory
operation teams the knowledge to work with predictive and adaptive process
controls which prompt wastage reduction, increases productivity and agility.
This
increase in agility gives the marketing teams freedom to design special edition
products, regionalise and customise it bringing greater production stability.
Customisation in the food industry is accelerating
as the Instagram trend grows and consumers strive for something different. With
KitKat’s announcement of their direct-to-consumer (D2C) offer, capitalising on
the Christmas season. Nestle is offering consumers handcrafted ‘create their
own break’ chocolates which can be built using 14 ingredients.
So, as the demand increases, production can only be
able to produce at scale with stable, and agile production processes.
Controlling the viscosity of chocolate determines the desired final smooth
creamy texture and quality of product, but the product must flow efficiently
through the production process.
Similarly, production of bread is impacted if the
weather gets too cold and inside temperatures are not controlled to allow the
fermenting of the dough to produce the same consistent quality of bread each
morning.
Factories collect data to make small changes and
adjust predictable variables that enhance production and quality.
Controlling variables in the production of ready
meals is highly beneficial too especially where there is mass production and
repeatability of action.
For instance, a factory producing pasta may have
more than one recipe which are customised. Their need is
smaller, shorter runs and to switch quickly, but the changeover time is greater
than the run time. To do shorter runs successfully, they need consistency and
repeatability, and for this they need predictability of conditions.
Nestle’s 8 finger KitKat individualisation of
product shows what can be achieved using data capture, analysis and digitalisation.
Whilst personalising chocolate is fun and great for
gifting, there are endless possibilities with capturing real time data and
producing food in a far more productive and agile way. This leads to
made-to-order possibilities or bespoke to everyone’s needs.
Data captured and processed in controlling
variables using analytics can revolutionise the Food & Beverage industry to
produce specially designed foods.
Read more at: https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2019/09/13/Siemens-probes-production-variables-to-explore-solutions