Food Manufacturer Utilizes Wireless Instrumentation to Reduce … · 2018-12-26 · simplified and...
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Food Manufacturer Utilizes Wireless Instrumentation to Reduce Edible Oil Losses FOOD & BEVERAGE RESULTS • Eliminated manual data collection and reconciliation processes saving over 24 labor hours per week with integrated wireless flow and level data • Captured “stranded” inventory measurement information without costly and complex wiring runs • Eliminated weekly oil usage variances that had been as high as $72,000 per week APPLICATION A major global food manufacturer makes a wide variety of chips and extruded snacks. Since many of these products are fried, it is no surprise that a major cost component is edible oil. As raw products are fried in a continuous process, oil must be constantly added to the fryer to replace the oil absorbed by the finished product. Monitoring and tracking oil usage is required for quality control, cost control and regulatory needs. As in many food and beverage companies, unidentified product loss can have a significant impact on a plant’s efficiency and profitability. In order to track and identify consumption and losses, in this case edible oil, it is necessary to monitor the flow of these products from arrival at the facility to final consumption or disposal. CHALLENGE Historically, the company attempted to track oil inventories on a manual basis. The plant would shut down Sunday for cleaning and then start production again on the next day. Given this schedule, manual readings of oil storage tank levels would be taken on Sunday evening to serve as the start/stop point for the plant’s oil inventory analysis. Prior week inventory totals from Coriolis meters feeding each frying line would also be gathered to be used in the inventory analysis. All manually gathered information would then be painstakingly used in conjunction with prior week production reports to compare actual oil usage to theoretical usage based on products produced. This comparison often came back with oil loss variances exceeding 10% for the week. Because the company had Coriolis meters at all critical points in their process and radar level transmitters on all tanks, they had the information needed to analyze oil consumption and losses on a mass AN-001794 /©2013 Micro Motion, Inc. All rights reserved. Emerson Wireless Gateway The Smart Wireless Gateway connects Wireless HART ™ self-organizing networks with host systems and data applications
Transcript of Food Manufacturer Utilizes Wireless Instrumentation to Reduce … · 2018-12-26 · simplified and...
Food Manufacturer Utilizes Wireless Instrumentation to Reduce Edible Oil Losses
FOOD & BEVERAGE
RESULTS•Eliminatedmanualdatacollectionandreconciliationprocesses
savingover24laborhoursperweekwithintegratedwirelessflowandleveldata
•Captured“stranded”inventorymeasurementinformationwithoutcostlyandcomplexwiringruns
•Eliminatedweeklyoilusagevariancesthathadbeenashighas$72,000perweek
APPLICATIONAmajorglobalfoodmanufacturermakesawidevarietyofchipsandextrudedsnacks.Sincemanyoftheseproductsarefried,itisnosurprisethatamajorcostcomponentisedibleoil.Asrawproductsarefriedinacontinuousprocess,oilmustbeconstantlyaddedtothefryertoreplacetheoilabsorbedbythefinishedproduct.Monitoringandtrackingoilusageisrequiredforqualitycontrol,costcontrolandregulatoryneeds.
Asinmanyfoodandbeveragecompanies,unidentifiedproductlosscanhaveasignificantimpactonaplant’sefficiencyandprofitability.Inordertotrackandidentifyconsumptionandlosses,inthiscaseedibleoil,itisnecessarytomonitortheflowoftheseproductsfromarrivalatthefacilitytofinalconsumptionordisposal.
CHALLENGEHistorically,thecompanyattemptedtotrackoilinventoriesonamanualbasis.TheplantwouldshutdownSundayforcleaningandthenstartproductionagainonthenextday.Giventhisschedule,manualreadingsofoilstoragetanklevelswouldbetakenonSundayeveningtoserveasthestart/stoppointfortheplant’soilinventoryanalysis.PriorweekinventorytotalsfromCoriolismetersfeedingeachfryinglinewouldalsobegatheredtobeusedintheinventoryanalysis.Allmanuallygatheredinformationwouldthenbepainstakinglyusedinconjunctionwithpriorweekproductionreportstocompareactualoilusagetotheoreticalusagebasedonproductsproduced.Thiscomparisonoftencamebackwithoillossvariancesexceeding10%fortheweek.
BecausethecompanyhadCoriolismetersatallcriticalpointsintheirprocessandradarleveltransmittersonalltanks,theyhadtheinformationneededtoanalyzeoilconsumptionandlossesonamass
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TheSmartWirelessGatewayconnectsWirelessHART™self-organizingnetworkswithhostsystemsanddataapplications
FOOD & BEVERAGE
basis.However,manualdatagatheringandhumanerrorscomplicatedtheprocessandledtoaprocessthatcouldrequireupto32manhoursperweektoreconcile.
SOLUTIONOilflowmetersandtanklevelinstrumentswerenotconnectedtoanycentralhostsystem.Inordertoautomatedatagathering,allflowandleveltransmitterswerefittedwithwirelessupgrademodulesandagatewaywaspurchasedtocaptureallwirelessdataandtransmittheinformationbacktoahostsystemusingEthernetIP.
Allinformationonoilmovement,frominitialunloadingofrailcarstofinalproductfryerlines,inconjunctionwithlevelmeasurementsfromoilstoragetanks,wasloadedtoadatabase.Customizedinventoryanalysisreportswerethencreatedtoautomatetheinventoryanalysisprocess,eliminating
theneedformanualdatagatheringcompletely.Theeliminationofhumanerrorsandtimingissuesgreatlysimplifiedandimprovedtheoverallanalysisofinventoryusage.Shortlyafterthesuccessfulintegrationofallinformationintothecustomer’sexistingcontrolsystem,significantbenefitswererealized.Oillossvariancesthathadbeenaveraging10-15%werenearlyeliminated,andatanoilcostof$1.27perpound,variancesofover$72,000perweekwereathingofthepast.Thetimerequiredtomanuallycaptureandreconciledatawasreducedfrom32hoursperweektolessthan8,andemployeesnolongerhadtomakeaspecialweekendtriptotheplanttomanuallyrecordlevelandinventoryflowdata.Inaddition,detailed,real-timedataallowedmanagementtopinpointproductionissuesandassessproductivityandefficiencyofindividualfryinglines,leadingonetechnicalmanagertoproudlystate,“Wenolongerhavetoflyblind.”
FryerLine #1
FryerLine #2
FryerLine #3
WirelessLevel
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AN-001794/©2013MicroMotion,Inc.Allrightsreserved.
EmersonWirelessELITE®Coriolis EmersonWirelessRadarLevel
EmersonWirelessF-SeriesCoriolis
FryerDiagram
Formoreinformation:www.MicroMotion.com/food-and-beverage www.MicroMotion.com
