MES for the Process Industry

Responsible processing of food

Food waste is a big issue: around eleven million tons of food end up in the garbage each year in private households, the catering industry, primary production, and further processing in Germany. 1.6 million tons thereof are wasted in food processing*. This food waste can be avoided at least to some extent. The key word is digitalization. A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) supports the efficient and sustainable use of valuable resources. The software expert FELTEN demonstrates how industrial production avoids scrap by integrating and controlling process parameters perfectly.

It is like baking cookies at home: first make the dough, roll it out, and then cut out the cookies. The remaining dough is kneaded and rolled out over and over again until it is fully processed. The cookies should be cut out as effectively as possible to avoid any leftovers. It is no different in the food industry, even though the dimensions of dough processing are much larger and the requirements much more complex. The manufacturing apps (mApp) Weighing and Compounding by FELTEN support companies in weighing raw materials and producing their items. The mApps optimize work preparation and job execution.

Too much, too little: precise calculation of remaining quantities

A classic pizza dough made of flour, water, yeast, and salt is the starting point: The ingredients are mixed in a continuous process to form a batch of dough. Each batch of dough is the basis for different customer orders, which only differ in their topping. Once the yeast has risen and the dough been kneaded, it is rolled out on a conveyor belt and dough pieces are punched out by machine. The aim is to cut out as many pieces as possible from the dough. The remaining quantity, the so-called rework, is diverted in the line and temporarily stored or directly combined with fresh dough in the forming section. To produce efficiently and use up the batch by the end of the day, two questions arise:

• How much rework is sent to temporary storage?
• How much fresh dough is actually required for current orders or follow-up orders to avoid any surplus production?

To answer the questions: You can either manage the stock of rework. In this case the type of dough and the raw materials used play an important role. Or the MES uses the quantity of raw dough produced and the planned quantity of finished products to identify the resulting amount of rework. Here, you can calculate a rework quantity per hour or per kneading batch, for example. Based on these key figures, you can calculate the actual demand for raw materials and the dough quantity of subsequent batches. At the same time, an MES monitors the permissible idle times of temporarily stored rework quantities and verifies whether they can still be reused in follow-up orders.

The mApp Compounding includes all components of the recipe. The planner releases the order and the corresponding components for weighing. The production order then appears in real time on the shop floor terminal of the respective weighing station. mApp dialogs provide precise operator guidance to guarantee that raw materials are weighed safely and accurately and to ensure correct order labeling of all weighed components. Scales are digitally connected to the system to enable the direct exchange of data between the equipment and the MES. Graphic and color-coded weight displays and the monitoring of limit values guarantee a reliable process flow.

Too big, too small: digital visual check

Same dough, different topping: The individual recipe of the product to be manufactured is stored in the MES for each customer order. This way ingredients can be weighed and mixed easily, safely, and in a time-saving manner. This can be a manual or fully automated process. Ham, cheese, mushrooms: once the pizza topping is complete, it’s time for quality management.

To this end, an employee might perform a visual check every hour. Here, the Digital Checklists by FELTEN are the perfect means. The user can configure these checklists according to their specific needs and thus replace the still widespread paper documentation. You can use the Digital Checklists for a variety of quantitative or qualitative tests, for example, to check the baking color or the type of topping. Target specifications and the tolerance range are stored in the list. Once the quality officer has entered the measured values, the software compares them with the stored target values. If the entered values are outside the permissible limit ranges, the MES immediately documents and displays this. If necessary, you can escalate the deviations.

Too warm, too cold: integrate environmental parameters

While frozen pizza comes off the production line all year round, other products, such as cookies or gingerbread, are only produced seasonally. When production starts, all process parameters must be checked and readjusted, if necessary, in order to achieve the best quality in the given production environment. In addition, variables such as the ambient temperature or room humidity have a major impact on fermentation, consistency, and other quality characteristics. Ever so often you cannot identify straightaway how these variables are correlated with the raw material properties and thus the machine parameters to be set. Here as well FELTEN’S Manufacturing Execution System supports you perfectly in monitoring and optimizing manufacturing parameters.

By continuously recording and evaluating the data, you can adapt the parameters to the respective conditions, for example to compensate for quality impairments caused by seasonally fluctuating ambient temperatures in the production environment. The ambient temperature in the production hall often varies and, in the worst case, incorrect temperatures and exceeded fermentation processes render the product unusable. To avoid waste, environmental variables should be integrated in the manufacturing process. You can meet these requirements by storing parameters in the MES and comparing them with currently recorded values. In this case, nothing obstructs responsible food handling anymore.

That’s how FELTEN supports the process industry

• The MES manages the process parameters of material, machines, orders, and recipes as target and actual values.
• Process and environmental data for single products and batches is collected and stored and can be retrieved at the push of a button for future orders.
• Real-time quality values are entered and compared in digital checklists. Values outside tolerance limits are detected immediately allowing the people responsible to intervene in the quality process at an early stage.

* These figures were reported to the EU Commission in a survey by the Federal Statistical Office for the year 2020, see mpdv.info/study