• Products
  • Industries
  • IIoT & Solutions
  • Service
  • Company

Increased efficiency in crisps production

Packaging industry
Logistics
Case Study

More transparency in manufacturing with flow meters and code readers

Seamless product tracking
in production

Compressed air savings
through energy monitoring

Simple and full integration
in the digital network

Results

  • Implementation according to individual customer requirements
  • Easy integration in the energy monitoring system
  • Inexpensive and easy to install solution
  • Monitoring of overall plant effectiveness

The challenge

One essential requirement in the food industry is to ensure product trace­bility. At our customer‘s site, barcode readers are used for this purpose. They can seamlessly track and trace the products from production to end user via codes printed on the packaging. A scalable and easy to integrate solution was sought to meet this requirement.

Another application for sensors in production is energy monitoring. The aim here is to increase the overall equipment efficiency (OEE) in order to reduce unit costs. From a cost perspective, compressed air and nitrogen, which are used as media, are of great importance in this context. Compressed air is used for the pneumatic system of machines, nitrogen is filled into the packag­es before sealing to extend the shelf life of the products. With the aim to incorporate these two media into the energy monitoring system, they were looking for suitable flow sensors.

Our customer

An internationally operating company produces snack foods and it is one of the leading manufacturers of potato crisps.

While the market requirements in this segment are constantly increasing, the industry also sees a steady rise in sales. As a result, manufacturers need to adapt their production methods, making them more efficient in order to remain compet­itive. Sensors and measuring instruments are used in the process.

Our customer

An internationally operating company produces snack foods and it is one of the leading manufacturers of potato crisps.

While the market requirements in this segment are constantly increasing, the industry also sees a steady rise in sales. As a result, manufacturers need to adapt their production methods, making them more efficient in order to remain compet­itive. Sensors and measuring instruments are used in the process.

The solution – why ifm?

As for the flow sensors, the company has opted for ifm devices from the SDX5/X6 series which meet the required specifications, are cost-effec­tive and can easily be integrated. With the inte­grated IO-Link interface, their connection via the AL1920 IO-Link masters used and also supplied by ifm, is also easy. Thanks to the digital connec­tion, the measured values are directly available in the production plant’s network and can be pro­cessed both in the PLC and in the higher-level energy management system. The simple digital integration via IO-Link was one of the main rea­sons to choose this solution.

O2I5XX code readers are now used for product tracking in the production plants. Here, the sim­ple connection via IO-Link also plays an essen­tial role. What is more, the price of the code readers is very attractive compared to previously used products.

Last, but not least, the people in charge have been impressed with the technical support provided by ifm‘s application engineers, who in each case could present an ideal solu­tion from a technical point of view. The result is an enhanced energy management system and improved production traceability. Given the pos­itive experience, other locations will follow.

Case Study: Höhere Effizienz in der Chipsproduktion

Codeleser O2I5XX

The latest success stories

The inspiring application reports, case studies and video reports from all industries show how our customers successfully save costs with solutions from ifm. At the same time, the efficiency and functionality of machines can often be increased.