TRANSFORMATION. WHAT ELSE?

CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY IN THE FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

Like it or not, the food & beverage industry is changing in ways that we can feel clearly as consumers. Does this present dramatic challenges or exciting opportunities for manufacturing teams? We consider the experience of leading food & beverage companies to share learning on how to achieve an agile and sustainable business.

INNOVATION. DIGITALIZATION. SUSTAINABILITY

We all live in dynamic times. As consumers, we experience both tasty surprises and frustrating limitations. While you might enjoy creative new drinks today, tomorrow you may miss your favorite restaurant. You may peruse delicious menus online. Or you may eat with less meat, less sugar or choose, whenever possible, regional and organic. These are the new consumer trends that you may follow or, perhaps, even set.

How is change experienced by food & beverage manufacturing teams? As workers, you are probably experiencing a disturbed supply chain – from limited access to ingredients or, perhaps, not reaching your consumers at all. You may not recover the returnable packaging material held up in pandemic-disrupted systems. Perhaps the high work-from-home quota within your team is affecting your ability to produce? And, on top of all these disruptions, climate change has initiated the question of the CO2 footprint of your operation. Energy saving initiatives are great, but is their impact on the environment good enough?

The food & beverage industry already incorporates many collective approaches to help cope with change. Standards – such as ISO 22000 or ISO 50001 – guide production teams to improve every day in quality assurance, food safety and consumption optimization. Manufacturing companies, system integrators and machine producers already have a mindset of change. The recent wave of challenges haven’t remain unanswered for long. It seems that aiming to overcome today’s challenges is natural. But really amazing things are happening when leaders reshape their vision. They see today’s opportunities as bigger than ever. Transformation. What else?

Let’s look at why our industry is so ripe for transformation.

Innovation can be easily observed on the food shop shelf. Just look at the variety of products, ingredients, recipes, packaging and overall consumer experience. Industrial processes are subject to optimization and disruptive novelty. Entire business models change as new customers are addressed with new products via new delivery channels.

The trend of digitalization brings a strong change energy. Digitalization is itself not a goal of transformation, but the enabler of measurable business benefits. Entire supply chains can grow more fluid by securely integrating people, production and management systems.

Sustainability is the top motivation for transformation in the food & beverage industry. Humanity has a stark and critical mission to act against global warming. Sustainability is an increasingly concrete concept and more widely anchored in the strategy of both big and small manufacturing companies.

The food & beverage industry is embracing a transformative path towards sustainability. Innovation and digitalization can help to drive for sustainability with maximum impact. But what are the real-world experiences of climbing towards these goals? How do you bring your entire team along with you? And how easy is to avoid costly mistakes?

LEADERS AS TEACHERS

The transformation towards innovative, digitalized and, above all, sustainable manufacturing is a never-ending story. “Change” – for many still an abstract concept – is a trail with many milestones and learnings (see Figure 1). You get closer to the mountain peak as you walk and design your journey, step by step. This is our real-life experience working together with leading food & beverage manufacturers. In the following examples, among other success factors, the zenon software platform has been engaged for an easier and more enjoyable transformation trail.

Figure 1: zenon brings value at every step and to the whole of the transformation journey

In the frame of continuous improvement in packaging line efficiency, a global manufacturer reflected on the challenges faced by its plant floor team . An obsolete data collection and analytics system had reached the end of its lifetime. The people couldn’t implement their newest improvements ideas or profit from increased machine data. Automated data collection, reduced manual input and precise analytics were just a dream.

In the project initiation phase, the first step of a potentially longer journey was designed in harmony with the company strategy and efficiency standards. Its leading European team, the system integrator and COPA-DATA proceeded with a clear goal, resources and timeline. Such a project management setup proved to have great value. First, the pilot project was easily manageable and enjoyed a smooth implementation. Second, the costs were kept at a reasonable level. Third, the results validated the expectations. The zenon software platform helped with a modular approach; enabling the selection of only the necessary software services. The interdisciplinary team and good communication assured the optimum combination of automation and IT technologies.

Close to its end, the pilot project brought one more challenge. Despite the qualitative focus on data-driven OEE improvements, the key people for whom the line efficiency system was designed felt uninvolved and showed low acceptance. The situation was overcome by improving usability based on their valuable input. The flexibility of zenon, in conjunction with the competence of the system integrator, secured the achievement of this key milestone.

The line efficiency solution enjoyed a successful rollout delivered by the European team. Their journey continued vigorously with implementation across the company’s European plants. Step by step, the solution grew with new efficiency reports and other functional extensions. zenon is designed for this type of agile implementation. It keeps opportunities open with a future-orientation towards the end user’s operational excellence and process innovation vision.

We switch now to another example of a leading worldwide manufacturer .

Despite heterogeneous operation technologies across different continents, it wanted to implement a common global quality system. The main idea was to build on the value of production data. Using automated calculation algorithms, a wide range of quality measurements could be requested in real time, as in an extended HACCP system.

The proof of concept and pilot phases validated the solution feasibility based on the zenon software platform. zenon’s high level of connectivity to industrial data sources, its advanced data processing mechanisms and integration convenience were essential. The journey to a mature solution continued by achieving key milestones along the way. Among them, the performance of data processing was taken as an early focus. Furthermore, the demand for quick and reliable implementation found its solution in zenon’s automated engineering technology. A third key conceptual development was zenon’s capability to integrate with various third-party MES implementations.

The close cooperation of global and local manufacturing teams, of COPA-DATA and of local system integrators made the entire journey even smoother. The agile approach of digital transformation enabled team creativity, while perfecting the deployment of the zenon software platform. This way, the global leader remains consistent with its vision of product quality and customer satisfaction across continents.

Our third example shines a light on sustainability. This brewing company aims for a neutral CO2 footprint. The framework of the ISO 50001 standard and its associated certification is not about setting concrete energy saving goals. Rather, it guides the manufacturing team to build skills that enable it to continuously optimize energy consumption. In an iterative way, just as in the transformation journey, the energy manager and his supporting colleagues create and implement new ideas, check the results and proceed with the next step. The availability of consumption data from the different consumers at the necessary level of granularity is essential. Chosen by the system integrator, zenon came into place to connect various measuring and production equipment. All the data is collected centrally, displayed, processed, archived and further used in energy data management reports. The existing meters and sensors are contextualized within the production landscape and active processes.

In our example, there are many other key development milestones which followed: extensive use of process variables (e.g. temperature, operating states), consumption peak detection, data exchange with further systems of the plant, wide involvement of users, creative diversification of energy reports, correlation of OEE and consumption.Every step builds on previous experience and brings clear benefits and learnings. This is how an ISO 50001-certified manufacturing team acts. The zenon software platform simply reduces the cost of flexibility and maximizes the freedom of action. The journey towards optimum sustainability continues to be smooth and enjoyable.

YOUR SOFTWARE FOR TRANSFORMATION

As our examples show, transformation is a journey animated by an inspiring vision anchored in business strategy. One key secret of a smooth path is how the manufacturing teams frame the agile implementation. While too large a step may be costly, difficult to manage and, perhaps, even end up deviating from the path, too small a step might show unconvincing benefit or slow down the journey.

The software technology used for these solutions also represents another secret to a successful transformation journey.

Looking to Figure 1, when it comes to designing every milestone with an outcome (e.g. return on investment), the zenon software platform grants maximum flexibility through modular services and concepts. Simply choose the software components you need. Make sure the benefits you target are visible for all stakeholders. And prepare every next step with their full support. In each phase, you must stay flexible to build project teams with the proper competences, aligned goals and timelines.

zenon democratizes digitalization technologies. This means learning curves are improved and progress is accelerated. You gain the freedom to reduce organizational and technical barriers. Plus, you can combine zenon with any hardware or other systems, on premise or over cloud. Your teams will feel empowered to find the best paths towards your shared vision.

The Plan-Do-Check-Act framework, as outlined in ISO standards, is a natural companion on your entire transformation journey. At every step, people learn the value of production data and how to use digitalization and innovation to achieve sustainability. You feel always ready for what comes next.

Whether you are striving for production flexibility and quality, for digitalized processes or for sustainability goals, placing the zenon software platform at the core of your manufacturing operation helps you to stay on track with ease.

zenon gives you an extensible, flexible and open digital infrastructure. Therefore, the total cost of ownership (TCO) remains low and continues to drive benefits over many years. Your profit from the newest OT/IT technologies can increase continuously, with every zenon version. Plus, at your side throughout your transformation journey are the skilled, international COPA-DATA team and an experienced Partner Community.

Transformation is already a reality for all of us – both as consumers and manufacturers of food & beverages. With the right approach and technology, transformation towards sustainability is even easier than we think.

Together, we are shaping a better future. Share your journey with us at [email protected] .

Curious to learn more about the customer examples mentioned here? Watch also the videos on our Melting Blog! https://blog.copadata.com/tag/food-beverage

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Article published in the COPA-DATA magazine “Information Unlimited” Issue #38 2022. Click here for the English version: https://issuu.com/copa-data/docs/iu38_en/46 and here for the German version: https://issuu.com/copa-data/docs/iu38_de/46