Food Processing - April 2008 - (Page 38)

Islands of automation are giving way to plant-wide (even enterprise-wide) efforts that yield performance analysis and front-ofﬁce proﬁt maximization. By Bob Sperber, Contributing Editor t takes 50 million lbs. of milk to churn out a year’s worth of Breyers yogurt. But over the past few years of skyrocketing milk prices, Breyers’ plant in North Lawrence, N.Y., was going bananas – and strawberries – trying to hold onto its proﬁts. “Instead of passing on the all of the cost increases to consumers, we looked to manufacturing to make up the difference” and keep prices in check, says Matt Davis, business unit manager. Operating 24/7, the plant seemed to be running at capacity until new management initiatives and a new software system from CDC Software (www.cdcsoftware.com), Atlanta, came online in June 2006. Some of the performance gains uncovered: • Reduced production line changeover from 25 mins. to 18, for a 250,000 case-a-year bump. • On-time order ﬁ ll-rate increased from 94 to 99.6 percent. • Quality-check completion rate hit 98 percent, up from 50 to 60 percent, within two weeks of installing the new software. • Annual manufacturing costs reduced by $120,000. • A one-time, $1 million cost avoidance when the system identiﬁed a $50,000 repair instead of a ﬁ lling line replacement. Plantwide integration now enables operational managers to directly identify what parts of an operation are meeting safety, quality, productivity and overall effectiveness targets. In turn, enterprise connectivity to the plant allows executives to know what parts of an operation are making or losing money. With appropriate cross-functional plant integration, every product, every SKU, can have completely accurate proﬁt pro38 • FOOD PROCESSING APRIL 2008 i ﬁ les based on actual, real-time, KPI-powered plant data. If this sounds like a pipe dream, pinch yourself: Industry leaders are doing it now. Business demands drive technology A conﬂuence of factors is driving demand for plant automation – including “slow growth, rising costs, waning pricing power, accelerated regulatory and customer requirements and a growing percentage of sales from a limited number of powerful and demanding retailers,” says John Blanchard, research director for tech analyst ﬁ rm ARC Advisory Group (www. arcweb.com), Dedham, Mass. “A lot of what’s driven us to automate has been consolidation and downsizing. You have to automate to compensate,” says Roy Speers, a control specialist with 27 years at the Molson brewery in Vancouver, British Columbia, part of the Molson Coors Brewing Co. merger. “We’ll keep running full-out as more plants close – and we’ll be looking for ways to lessen downtime,” he says of the three-shift operation now expanding as plants close in Edmonton, Alberta, and elsewhere. “There used to be just water. Today, there’s water with nutrients, electrolytes, ﬂavored waters,” says Charles Rastle, industry marketing manager in the Boulder, Colo., ofﬁce of Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com). “About 20 percent of the products in any given plant are new. Multiply that by however many SKUs the plant is running, and it’s easy to see the need for more, or better, automation.” WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.cdcsoftware.com http://www.areweb.com http://www.areweb.com http://www.rockwellautomation.com http://WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - April 2008

Food Processing - April 2008 Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Consumer Taste Test - Indulgent, Superpremium Chocolate...at 3 Calories a Pop Cover Story - Annual Capital Spending Report - To Build or Not to Build? Ingredients - Trendy Fruits, Nuts and Vegetables Plant Operations - iPlant: Assessing the State of Automation Plant Operations - Your Sanitation Can Be Greener Packaging - For Which Oven? MRO Q&A New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - April 2008

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