Tetra Pak and Rockwell Automation in AI powders supply boost
The partnership saw Tetra Pak’s expertise in the cheese and powders sector incorporated into Rockwell’s systems in the form of the Powder Plant Booster. The solution was developed specifically to boost the sustainability and cost effectiveness for powders manufacturers.
In an exclusive interview, Tetra Pak’s vice president of cheese and powder systems Fred Griemsmann and Rockwell’s vice president of enterprise account in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa Harald Mag discuss the applications of the system and the core drivers of its development.
Integration
The Powder Plant Booster – coupled with Rockwell’s Pavilion8 software – is a process modelling, advanced control and optimisation platform. It integrates with any control system to continuously provide real-time insight, diagnostics, and advanced control.
To achieve this, the system delivers an intelligence layer on top of basic automation systems to help drive plants towards addressing multiple business objectives.
Griemsmann said: “The food and drink industry now requires that producers have a level of agility never seen before. This means we must be ready to offer our customers advanced processing control technology that is both flexible and precise.
Real time data
“Customers have access to production data in real time and adapt their process variables to match requirements – without any loss in quality, productivity, or throughput.”
Rockwell claimed that Pavilion 8 could deliver product quality variability reductions of up to 60%. It could reduce quantities of off-spec products by up to 75%, improve throughputs by up to 9% and reduce energy per unit of product by up to 9%.
Matthew Fordenwalt, vice president of systems and solutions at Rockwell added: “We believe shared customers insights, coupled with technology and domain expertise, will deliver real value focused outcomes to the industry.”
Meanwhile, University of Bradford reader in computer science Savas Konur talks about the unique challenges of installing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Industry 4.0 technologies into a production line more than a century old.
