Wireless Apps, Cloud Services Transform Decision Making, Data Management for Packaging Lines

Manufacturers are constantly under pressure to increase efficiency, streamline operations, contain costs, and increase productivity, particularly when the competitive landscape is strong and consumer demand for creative new products is constant. They need to accomplish these goals—and expand too. It is a tall order.

Efficiency starts right on the plant floor—and that is where mobile applications let companies transcend distance and connectivity issues, creating a virtual, personalized space for collaboration. In the food processing and packaging business, mobile applications are helping workers make better, faster, smarter analyses and actions, based on real-time visualization of their processes.

One dairy products producer that makes and distributes a wide range of foods and beverages had to maintain a stream of traditional products and introduce new products to suit changing consumer tastes and trends. These requirements demanded a delicate balance between quality and consistency, and an expansion of facilities, and involved incorporating and monitoring new product filling and packaging lines and their associated equipment.

Key to this producer’s growth strategy is capital efficiency—getting the most out of its facilities and equipment. To help accomplish this, the company checks its lines for OEE (overall equipment efficiency) and production rates in real time with the help of the Invensys SmartGlance mobile reporting system, which makes information available to users in real time, 24/7.

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