Modernizing Food and Beverage Manufacturing

Schneider Electric’s PacDrive control technology synchronizes multi-axial motion, PLC functionality, and robotic control on a single hardware platform. Image: RS.

Update robotic and machine controls

Although there are a ton of opportunities for process modernization in the food and beverage industry, manufacturers at the beginning of their transformational journey can focus on four points to start making serious headway toward remaining competitive and compliant. They can update their robotic and machine controls, leverage IIoT technologies, digitize their data, and embrace ESG initiatives.

IIoT integration is also beneficial for regulatory compliance. In the food and beverage industry, every piece of relevant information about products, ingredients, processes, and proof of regulatory food-safety compliance must be properly identified and recorded. The most effective way to capture and record all of these vital data is to adopt IIoT-enabled, track-and-trace technology that delivers information to a central hub from which operators can monitor and improve processes as well as comply with audits. This can drastically reduce the risk of expensive and reputation-damaging outcomes like product recalls.

Digitize data

For example, although new ESG standards issued by the European Union will not be implemented until 2024, investors and ESG-conscious consumers are already putting pressure on businesses, including food and beverage manufacturers. According to a recent report from Bain and Co. and the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), 93% of investors said they would walk away from an investment if it posed an ESG concern. So, the longer manufacturers wait, the more costly the consequences could be.

Although many of these modernization efforts are currently optional, it’s a mistake to believe they will remain so. The world’s increasing emphasis on ESG issues is steadily creating an environment that, while still patchy, is becoming more stringent every day.

On one hand, we can view this trend with a massive sigh of relief, considering the challenges the industry faced in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, it poses a variety of challenges for food and beverage manufacturers that aren’t ready to take advantage of these opportunities.

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Modernizing Food and Beverage Manufacturing

Four ways manufacturers can kick-start their digital transformation

When choosing the right recording product for the food and beverage industry, there are a few things to keep in mind. Due to the health-sensitive nature of these products, food and beverage manufacturers must comply with a variety of standards and regulations, including ISO 2200, FSSC 22000, and Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations. These governing bodies require that recording systems save information in a way that can’t be altered. Some recorders, such as standard PLCs, save data in a CSV file that, while easy to import into a spreadsheet, isn’t tamperproof and has no way of logging that changes occurred. Others record the data over communication lines rather than directly onto a product. So, if communications capabilities are lost for any reason, the data would also be lost.

Nearly all major food and beverage manufacturers use automation in their production lines, and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are one of the most widely used automation technologies in this industry. However, traditional PLC operations have been pushed to the breaking point as product demands have increased during the past 10 years, especially when it comes to packaging processes.

To ensure regulatory compliance and prevent data loss, use recording devices that save data in a secure, uneditable file format that has built-in data storage capabilities.

Embrace ESG initiatives

Although embracing the full scale of ESG can be daunting, starting small pays dividends. Digitization and IoT integration, for example, will go a long way toward ensuring that ESG-related data are properly collected, stored, and organized, which can be especially helpful for reporting to regulators and investors.

For more information, or for assistance identifying solutions that can help you modernize your food and beverage manufacturing processes, contact our technical product support team.