WHAT DOES ‘DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION’ REALLY MEAN FOR THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY? The phrases ‘digital transformation’, ‘digitalization’, ‘smart factories’ – we’ve heard them all so much the past few years that in some ways it can be hard to pin down their meaning. Like another ubiquitous word, ‘sustainability’, they can mean different things to different people. What we should really be interested in is how these words can translate to practical change in the industry, and this was the crux of Victoria Hattersley‘s recent conversation with Malte Schlüter, Global Director Food & Beverage/Life Science at Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. Factory Automation.
“F
irst, we have to acknowledge that for some digitalization has become a buzzword,” begins Malte. “There are lots of different levels to this concept but in general I would say that digitalization on the production floor (OT) itself is still lower than it could be. Production machines are generating huge amounts of data, however in many cases the full potential of the intelligence that can be gained by analyzing this data has not yet been fully identified or realized.” So, taking this into consideration, how can companies turn data into actionable insights to improve efficiency and productivity? Some would say they should all be processed in the Cloud but this, says Malte, should be deliberately and cautiously rethought when pursuing a digital transformation strategy. To demonstrate why, Mitsubishi Electric carried out a simple experiment. The company took a basic flow wrapping machine for cookies as a test case and worked out what it would cost to store all the data it produced in the Cloud for one year. The result was around 10,000 euros for just one machine, which means that with the amount of data generated by an entire factory, the potential costs can become millions of euros.
“To minimize the amount of remote storage needed and create highly responsive production systems, we suggest to our clients that they should implement edge computing technologies alongside Cloud solutions. These can provide local real-time data analysis capabilities that can lead to improved efficiencies while also reducing the amount of data that needs to be processed in the Cloud. Thinking ahead to the next stages of production optimization, the implementation of vision systems, 3D technology etc., can also be simplified as the effective collection and analysis of this data is already ensured.”
Case study: ‘Smart cocoa’ and the power of data One example Malte gives to highlight the transformative role of data is Mitsubishi Electric’s recent collaboration with a global cocoa producer. The company collects data on several variables that could affect its product, from cocoa bean farmers – weather, for instance – which can influence the end quality. All this information is then factored in when implementing milling settings on the factory floor to achieve the desired product characteristics. The result: ‘Smart cocoa’. Packaging Europe | 23 |
