Emmi digitizes food production with Wonderware from Schneider Electric
Emmi has digitised its five largest Swiss production sites with a total of 350 machines and has been able to analyse production data at the touch of a button since this summer. Switzerland's largest milk processor is relying on the Wonderware technology platform from Schneider Electric. Thanks to significant efficiency gains, Emmi expects the investment to pay for itself in two to three years.
Emmi has grown strongly in recent years and now processes the milk of every fourth Swiss dairy cow. This results in Europe-wide bestsellers such as the coffee drink Caffè Latte, as well as a wide range of cheese and fresh product specialities. For historical reasons, the production processes varied greatly from one Emmi plant to the next. "Thanks to digitalisation, we now have a standardised production process for all Swiss factories and can identify efficiency potential much more quickly," says Thomas Arnold, Production Manager at the Emmen plant.
Heterogeneous IT landscape
With each acquisition of Emmi, new process control systems were added. "We were keeping a zoo of IT systems," says Reto Stocker, MES project manager at Emmi, "which made obtaining production-relevant data extremely time-consuming." The introduction of a group-wide ERP (enterprise resource planning) system offered the opportunity to standardize and digitize the production control system as well. Emmi was already successfully using Schneider Electric's Wonderware software solution in the process control system environment.
For this reason, those responsible also opted for Wonderware for the comprehensive production control system. In addition to the system platform, the MES Operation and MES Performance modules will be used in the first phase.
350 production machines integrated
The consulting company acs from Wil came into play as the system integration specialist. The acs team, which specializes in the food industry, mapped all production steps in detail and integrated a total of 350 production machines into the MES within twelve months. This was done at the Suhr, Emmen, Langnau, Dagmersellen and Ostermundigen sites. "The Wonderware technology platform is ideally suited for bringing together heterogeneous systems and is ready for the future development of the Group," explains Lorenz Meyer, Deputy Managing Director of acs.
Valuable data - better traceability
"The production staff have taken the changeover from paper to scanners, touchscreens and handheld computers well," says Stocker. Every single work step can be measured in detail: from the delivery of the approximately 300,000 litres of milk in Emmen every day to the palletising and removal of the products. "With Wonderware, we have all production data in the right place at the right time for the first time. This allows us to continuously optimise the safety and performance of production, reduce downtimes and significantly improve traceability," says Thomas Arnold. An investment that pays off. In the best-case scenario, it will have paid for itself after just two years, according to Emmi.
"We were tending a zoo of IT systems," says Reto Stocker, MES project manager at Emmi.
