Increased efficiency in crisps production
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.
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.
Codeleser O2I5XX
