Why do we need data-driven processing?

Turning poultry processing into a data-driven operation is an absolute necessity in today’s market, but it is still a challenge. Marel provides a doorway into data-driven culture for customers across the globe, by providing them with a complete set of data-gathering tools and services. Sensors, product detectors, vision graders, weighers, X-rays, and laser scans collect an invaluable set of reliable data. This system of data collection is the ideal starting point for organizations seeking a data-driven environment.

Digital journey

Processing lines need to convert raw material into high-quality products and deliver the right product to the right customer at the right time. The only way to manage all this is to implement an advanced software platform which provides all possible scope for data collection, traceability, production control, Quality Control and performance monitoring (OEE). Marel’s Innova Food Processing Software is just such a platform linking together virtually all machines in the plant. Innova empowers processors in their digital transformation journey to get the most out of their operations.

15,000 bph requires ultimate software

Increased capacities – up to 15,000 bph – and increased automation go hand in hand with a digital transition. Processors are under constant pressure to make increasingly complex decisions very quickly, matching an enormous amount of incoming goods to order requirements. Moreover, product quality and food safety have to be optimal to avoid risk claims and product recalls. Only highly accurate digital tools, such as Innova Food Processing Software, can take the pressure off processors.

Convert data into operations

All of today’s demands have made it impossible to run a processing plant without having access to digital tools. Applying data-driven processes brings the processor peace of mind. Innova Food Processing Software is just the right overarching platform to get access to such data-driven processes. To achieve an effective order fulfillment, Innova software ensures full potential of a Marel poultry production line, bringing availability, performance and quality close to 100%. Using Innova, all input and output data for production are at hand, resulting in more structured long-term and short-term planning. Innova knows how to convert precise data into precise operations throughout the plant.

Food safety requires software too

Food safety benefits from data-driven processing too. Consumers have a growing desire for information about their meat. They want to know all the details of what they‘re eating: the origin, the nutritional value, and the safety. Is it a regular broiler or a locally bred, organic, slow-growing chicken? Marel’s automated systems collect product information step by step and add it to the data package that continuously accompanies each product. By collecting data this way, supported by software to analyze that data, processors have a strong backbone of food safety information. This reliable way of data-driven processing enables full traceability throughout the processing plant. The entire production process can carefully be traced and comprehensive information can be printed on the label of each end product. The consumer in the supermarket can see exactly which processes the product has gone through. Marel’s poultry solutions, together with Innova software, make this kind of traceability possible.

Data gathering works both ways

“The need for information and traceability has grown,” says Roger Claessens, EVP of Marel Poultry. “Consumers want to know all the details of what they‘re eating: the origin, the nutritional value and the safety. It is a challenge to achieve this with fresh products such as poultry meat.” Data-driven processing is not just useful for informing consumers about the origin of their food. Farmers, processors as well as supermarkets can profit too. Roger Claessens continues, “The data gathered makes processors work in a more efficient and targeted way while maximizing the value of their products and minimizing the waste of food. Like this, they can get good prices instead of offering discounts. In the near future, artificial intelligence will allow them to produce on Friday exactly what supermarkets need at the weekend during the barbecue season.”

Tie it all together

Themes such as traceability, continuous improvement, yield and OEE optimization can best be handled as part of an operations-wide data solution. Innova software technology has advanced to the point where coupling the big data of a processing plant is a practical reality. Innova MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) is an example of an operations-wide solution. It links processes for internal logistics (packing and warehousing), planning&optimization, performance management and quality management. MES provides tracking and monitoring of just about every aspect of every process, from ingredients measurement to production reports. By tying it all together in detailed analysis, MES ensures product flow tracking and full traceability of the products during the production process.

Save an airplane

The Internet of Things (IoT) opens new avenues for poultry processors to add even more value. It allows them to automate monitoring as well as diagnostic processes, delivering valuable insight into how to get the most out of machines. This is very useful when implementing smarter processing and predictive maintenance. Remote diagnosis using IoT makes maintenance work more efficient and sustainable while saving local labor too.

By using IoT, each and every day we can save one symbolic Boeing 737 airplane flying Marel engineers around the world. During the corona crisis, Marel showed to be prepared for remote service and support. Via modern communication means, Marel’s engineers, confined to Boxmeer and Aarhus, transmitted their highly advanced and digitalized support procedures around the world. Like this, they succeeded in remotely guiding local technicians to install new processing lines in Korea and Australia.