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Connected baking makes smart factories The concept of a fully-automated bakery that can run itself independently, the smart baking factory, is one that will deliver high-quality goods adjusting processes to do so, without missing a beat. The key to achieving this is collecting the right data and utilizing this information to connect and synchronize equipment. This is AMF’s vision for ‘lights-out’ bakeries.
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By Catalina Mihu
The ‘lights-out’ bakery concept is a long-term vision at AMF Bakery Systems in its goal to automate bakery processes with consistent, highquality results. Step by step, this means gains in production efficiency and sustainability. Data science is instrumental in this process. “The value of data is the future, hand in hand with the artisan bakery craftsmanship, which will always be needed for tasty, flavorful recipes. As machines get smarter and robots can work 24/7, processes will run faster, more accurately, with automation supporting bakeries to achieve better performance, better quality and non-stop production if needed. Bakers’ skills will drive product innovation development, while smart factories will independently handle production,” Lex van Houten, Regional Marketing Manager, AMF, underlines. With each step towards more automated processes that use smart solutions and AI technology, there will be less need for human intervention as machine capabilities increase. AMF identifies five phases in this process: 1. Equipment-assisted operations: machinery helps to increase productivity, with the operator in control of the processes 2. Partial automation: the operator selects commands to be executed by the equipment 3. Conditional automation: the operator is needed for machinery start-up, recipe selection and unexpected events 4. High-level automation: operator’s intervention is needed for unexpected issues and to ensure raw materials are available
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5. ‘Lights-out’, fully-automated factories: no operators are required as, these systems ensure unexpected issues and replenish raw materials Connectivity plays a key role in bringing the information together in this endeavor to support fast adjustments and improvements.
Connecting the production dots Currently, most types of equipment on the bakery floor can be a source of data. The goal is to put this data to work to support baking processes and the optimization or resources used, to finetune equipment settings, and to minimize waste – while high-quality products are manufactured to exact specifications. As machines run operations, they analyze and optimize settings to save energy, for example, a particularly important priority in light of current gas prices.
20% NATURAL GAS SAVINGS CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH THE SOS To tackle this hot topic, AMF developed a Sustainable Oven Service (SOS), a new AMF oven feature that helps bakers and operators improve on process efficiency, product quality and reduce energy usage on their ovens. “This new feature makes your oven ‘connected’ and combines artificial intelligence and personal advice from our AMF oven experts to give the operator specialty recommendations on improving the oven to its optimal configuration,” van Houten says. Using the SOS, savings of up to 20% in natural gas can be
achieved, while also reducing CO 2 emissions by up to 20%, and lowering waste – with improved product quality and consistency at the end of the process. In addition, the need for fewer people to run such machines is a more important benefit than ever, compensating for trained staff shortages. Machine learning improves problem-solving over time as well as process adjustments to increase efficiency. Efficiency gains are measurable. “OEE is a nice metric used to show how productively a bakery, line, or team is performing. AMF can optimize and automate processes to maximize the yield of products that are an exact match to the required specifications,” van Houten explains. The recently launched, AI-powered Smart Applicator is another example: all the ingredients deposited on pizza are imaged digitally and analyzed; quality control is performed within seconds in this way and the equipment continuously adapts to anomalies. “Triggers can be set to take out imperfect products or series, and thus OEE at the end of the line will be higher, saving waste, saving costs, with better margins,” he adds. Specializing in products ranging from soft breads and buns, to pizza and sheeting and laminated goods, AMF production lines gather a comprehensive array of data. The company uses it to create new, digital and smart products and services that help optimize ingredient use, processes and results. The AMFConnect system can provide information and enable control of multiple processes by connecting bakery equipment with baking systems and bakery processes. In this way, communication and coordination between various operations performed in the plant are improved. “This type of
