In today’s highly productive poultry processing plants, it takes solid software control to achieve the highest overall effectiveness. This is where Innova IMPAQT (Intelligent Monitoring of Performance, Availability and Quality Trends) really shines, as it can identify undesirable production losses, even if they’re very small. In Poland, Cedrob, one of the country’s most important poultry processors, is successfully using the IMPAQT solution for its Cedrob 2 and Cedrob 3 plants. Robert Duda, Cedrob’s Application and Maintenance Manager is convinced of the value added by Innova IMPAQT.
The Cedrob 2 and 3 plants are equipped from A to Z with Marel equipment, both with almost the same configuration. Robert Duda explains, “We use IMPAQT similarly in both plants. The tool itself is very helpful in the day-to-day maintenance of the line, because it reports in real time and gives us access to historical data. It allows us to see exactly what events happened when the line was running.”
Sensors, already in use most of the time for Equipment Monitoring, have been integrated into virtually every process, system, machine and overhead conveyor system. The data from these sensors is crucial for Innova IMPAQT in picking up possible signals of performance, availability and quality losses during production. IMPAQT can objectively reveal which processes are causing performance losses or line stops. Based purely on data, these outcomes are completely reliable and do not involve either guesswork or gut feeling.
If a plant manager wants to monitor processes, just walking through the plant, watching, listening and checking is no longer an option nowadays. Today, neutral sensors, cameras and software are replacing biased human senses. With Marel’s Innova IMPAQT software, the plant manager, but also the maintenance manager, the production manager and the quality control manager can get so much more control and insight. IMPAQT has all the intelligence needed to show on a computer screen exactly what is happening in the plant and where. It can pinpoint which line has stopped, for how many seconds, at what moment and what was the first problem in the line. It can even deduce trends from the information. “It has become a lot easier to detect damaged trolleys, for instance. We can resolve such issues much earlier than before, which really minimizes our downtime,“ says Robert Duda.
One-off incidents can always happen and are hard to prevent but when the same malfunctions keep recurring, however small the loss caused by them may be, it’s time to intervene. Robert Duda had a similar experience. “At one time the line kept stopping, although the operator panel of the control box displayed no error. Each time people had to wait for the line to be restarted. We checked in the event log to see what had stopped the line and IMPAQT pinpointed the cause immediately. This was a damaged contact in the safety switch. Oxidization was causing line vibrations to disconnect the safety circuit each time for a very short while. It was good to find this out, because it saved us a lot of trouble.”
A reduction in losses means more profit for us and a better return on our investment.
Robert Duda
Application and Maintenance Manager Cedrob
Cedrob uses Innova IMPAQT continuously whenever the plants are in operation, says Robert Duda. “We control the efficiency of the processes on an ongoing basis. That goes for the correct functioning of the GP live bird handling line, Nuova eviscerators, as well as TRDE, TRCS and TR1G transfer units, just to name a few. We also constantly monitor line tensioners, ATCs, drives, thermal fuses and other connected related devices.
Summing up, we notice that monitoring of the processing lines where we use IMPAQT is much better. It is much easier to diagnose efficiency or any damage to these lines, when compared to lines that don’t have IMPAQT.”
Speaking of Nuova, Innova IMPAQT even allows monitoring of the functioning of individual eviscerator units. If one unit shows an underperforming trend, this becomes clear on the IMPAQT dashboard right away. Robert Duda has experienced the effect of IMPAQT on evisceration efficiency too. “We systematically and continuously monitor the efficiency of evisceration and viscera pack transfer. If pack loss on any of the shackles exceeds 3%, this is a warning signal that the process is becoming less efficient. We’ve defined loss above 5% as unacceptable, meaning replacement of the pack shackle. Without such information from the IMPAQT system, an employee would have to be involved in the entire process, counting packs and observing which pack shackle is performing poorly. That job would be quite onerous. IMPAQT brings us many benefits every day. A reduction in losses means more profit for us and a better return on our investment.”
Company website: grupacedrob.pl
Our dedicated team is here to help and answer any questions you may have. Please complete the form, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you.