It has been twelve years since the advent of “industry 4.0” as a concept, and various industries have taken up the digital transformation mantle with different degrees of enthusiasm. This blog post will unpack how the food and beverage processing industry has applied digital transformation concepts, especially the industrial internet of things (IIoT). It is based on an interview for Food Processing magazine, which recently appeared in their article, “Processors Should Integrate IIoT Now to Keep Pace.” 

Have Food and Beverage Processing Plants Incorporated IIoT? 

Anytime a regulated industry, such as food and beverage or pharmaceuticals, has a desire to implement a new technology, a new process, or a new methodology, the question of risk and cost versus benefit will come to mind right away. Will the investment in IIoT produce a positive return on investment? What if the strategy does not yield the predicted results? Do we have the proper resources trained to use and maintain these new technologies? All of these are valid concerns, and those of us charged with implementing these new strategies need to participate in answering these questions. 

Most food and beverage companies have a wealth of capital and brand reputation riding on every batch and every change proposed to their process. While most companies have figured out how to deal with these risks and unknowns, adoption of all benefits that IIoT has to offer has been slow, but steady. I would say that there are about 25% who are early adopters of these new technologies, 40% who are actively engaged in applying these new technologies, 20% who could be considered late adopters, and 15% who are risk averse  Overall, the adoption of IIoT has started, but there is a long way to go before the full potential of IIoT in the industry is realized. 

I believe most food and beverage industry manufacturers have a formal digital transformation roadmap defined. Capital availability, return on investment analyses, and concerns from regulatory resources within the companies are the main roadblocks to complete adoption of these IIoT technologies, which would include items such as wireless sensors, robotics, cloud-based applications, integration of operational technology (OT) and IT, and artificial intelligence. 

It has been observed that IIoT technologies have been a big part of new construction of manufacturing capacity, whereas retrofitting of existing facilities takes more planning, since interruption of current production schedules can have a negative short-term effect on operations.  Regardless, engineering and operations personnel have been identifying projects with positive returns that can allow the company to incrementally install these technologies and reap the benefits. 

IIoT will be a major part of the continual progress companies will make along their digital transformation journey, providing more and more opportunities to invest in applications, sensors, and controls that will help the company to improve throughput, reduce or eliminate deviations, and exceed quality parameters for their products. As some of these technologies, approaches, and methodologies mature, adoption by even the risk averse will be considered, as the significant advantages and benefits realized by companies in their peer group become well documented. 

Opportunities for Growth: Where Can F&B Take Advantage of IIoT? 

I believe the low-hanging fruit is in collection and analysis of data that the plants are already collecting, or can collect, with a minimum amount of capital expenditure and minimal risk. This would include surveying the plant to determine what variables are most affecting quality, efficiency, throughput, and safety. There is also an opportunity to integrate data from sensors on ancillary equipment which may not have been considered before, such as electrical usage monitoring, temperatures and humidity in refrigerators and freezers, and vision sensors to understand operator movements and ergonomics. 

Some examples of what companies are doing well now include: 

• Installing sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, and other conditions to insure an optimal environment for the production, packaging and storage of product. 
• Using RFID tags and barcodes can be used to track the movement of raw materials and product to help insure proper inventory and production quantities. 
• Automating work instructions and interactive wireless operator terminals can help enforce adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and ensure critical steps of the process are properly executed. 
• Using vision sensors, barcodes, and other sensors in conjunction with specific application software to automate changeovers and ensure the proper packaging, overwrapping, and labelling is affixed to each shipping unit.  Discrepancies, mismatched items, and out of spec product can virtually be eliminated.
• Integrating upstream and downstream operations to predict when more raw materials, packing materials, or operational changes are required to ensure a steady and efficient operation. 
• Using “big data” from the strategies above to optimize production scheduling and analyze manufacturing data to identify where additional improvements can be made.
• Using cloud-based data repositories to collect and analyze data from across all company manufacturing sites. 

In the next few years, I expect a major move of manufacturing data to the cloud and an increase in the use of real-time analytical tools for many purposes, including downtime tracking, production scheduling, and raw material and inventory management. This will be important as manufacturers become more integrated into the various members of the supply chain, including raw material providers, shipping companies, and distribution facilities.   

How Can F&B Stakeholders Better Position Themselves to Reap the Benefits of Digital Transformation? 

It is interesting that the answer to this question is primarily one of human capital. The technology is easy to specify, procure, install, and configure. The challenge is: does the company have the necessary resources to operate, analyze, and apply continuous improvement to these IIoT strategies? This is the aspect of IIoT implementation that is often overlooked. Without the proper human resources, the investment in IIoT will likely not be fully realized. As part of the IIoT road mapping, the company needs to understand what level of resources are required to obtain the maximum benefit from IIoT and commit to the training of existing resources, such as operators, and hiring additional resources as needed to provide the required skills. 

Secondarily, processors need to objectively assess where they are now and understand where they want to go over time. Which IIoT strategies are appropriate to provide value and further the overall corporate strategies place? Where do we need to realize the most improvement? What are others in our peer group doing to overcome these obstacles?  hat are the latest best-in-class solutions?  These may not be easy questions to answer (or even ask), but processors will benefit the most from IIoT only when they have a realistic plan and have support and buy-in from Operations, Engineering, Quality, Regulatory Affairs and Management. 

Is the F&B Industry Analyzing All this Data Effectively?  

Where does industry stand when it comes to handling, processing, analyzing and reacting to all the data that's possible when all the machinery begins to work together? Many companies are well on their way, while others are lagging. In my answer to the first question, I estimated where the industry is along their digital transformation journey. The 25% who are early adopters and the 40% who are actively engaged in IIoT technologies are most likely to be the most proficient collectors and analyzers of manufacturing data. 

Data analysis requires not only a wealth of manufacturing data and a place to securely store that data, but also competent personnel who can design the queries that can turn that data into actionable information. As companies are able to provide the data IIoT promises to provide and employ knowledgeable data scientists to extract information from that data, the industry will realize improvements in efficiency, safety, and quality of the products they produce. 

Learn More: Digital Transformation Training Series  

Demystifying digital transformation is critical to ensuring that these common objections can be easily addressed. ISA offers training that will provide you with all the tools necessary to actively and efficiently participate in digital transformation projects at your plant site or organization:  
 
Introduction to IIoT — The Industrial Internet of Things (DT101)  
Sign up any time for this self-paced modular course. It covers the basic concepts of the internet of things and how these concepts and underlying technologies have evolved, and how they are currently being applied to industrial applications. It also covers supporting technologies that are often employed in IIoT applications in greater detail, including: 

• Machine learning/AI 
• Data preparation/cleansing 
• Data analytics 
• Data presentation technologies

Participants will review actual IIoT projects in greater depth and examine these projects' technical and business aspects, giving registrants deeper insights into IIoT applications.