Operations Management Blog

Driving Innovation with Emerson Ventures Early-Stage Capital Investments

Jim Cahill — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:57:45 GMT

Innovation does not just happen among the primary automation suppliers. Innovative ideas need nurturing and time to prove their value. Companies like Emerson can help provide capital and expertise to nurture these innovations happening in these early-stage companies. This is where Emerson Ventures comes in.

The post Driving Innovation with Emerson Ventures Early-Stage Capital Investments appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Delivering Benefits for Emerging Pharma Manufacturers

Jim Cahill — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:36:48 GMT

For emerging pharma manufacturers facing urgent imperatives to bring products to market quickly with limited resources and constrained funding, the Digital Batch Record solution, with the Recipe Importer Tool, solves real problems in practical, affordable, and immediately implementable ways.

The post Delivering Benefits for Emerging Pharma Manufacturers appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Emerson Recognized as a Leader in QKS Group’s SPARK Matrix for Manufacturing Execution Systems – Process and Batch

Jim Cahill — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:00:07 GMT

In today’s manufacturing landscape, which is rapidly undergoing digital transformation, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are essential for driving operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and real-time visibility in process and batch operations. Especially in highly regulated sectors like biotech and pharmaceuticals, MES platforms serve as a critical layer for orchestrating complex production workflows and ensuring data integrity across the plant floor.

In the recently released SPARK Matrix™ for Manufacturing Execution Systems – Process and Batch, 2024 by QKS Group (formerly Quadrant Knowledge Solutions), Emerson has been named as a Leader. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of global MES vendors, market trends, and strategic differentiators, along with the SPARK Matrix visual framework evaluating vendors on technology excellence and customer impact.

Evaluation Criteria for Manufacturing Execution Systems – Process and Batch Manufacturing.

The QKS SPARK Matrix assesses MES solutions based on their ability to meet the evolving demands of batch-centric and process-intensive industries. Key evaluation areas include:

Recipe Management: Centralized and flexible recipe authoring aligned with ISA-88 standards, supporting both master and control recipes. Enables precise execution of validated processes with full traceability and version control, and ensures compliance in regulated industries such as pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Weighing and Dispensing: Integrates electronic scales with MES to guide operators through validated weighing workflows. Supports room and container checks, tare operations, and real-time verification of material ID and batch information. Displays integrated weight on-screen, decrements source containers, and prints traceable labels for both source and destination containers, ensuring precise material dispensing and compliance with batch specifications.
Production Orchestration & Scheduling: Executes ERP-defined production schedules based on planned start and end times and enables integration with real-time scheduling systems for dynamic batch sequencing. Supports rule-based workflow execution and task enforcement aligned with plant constraints, including resource availability, demand shifts, and quality requirements.
Quality & Compliance Management: Embedded procedural enforcement, deviation handling, and generation of electronic batch records (EBR) that comply with GMP, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and other global regulatory standards.
Analytics & Decision Support: Provides role-based dashboards and contextualized data views to monitor KPIs such as yield, batch cycle time, and process exceptions. When integrated with business intelligence tools, it supports deeper analysis and predictive insights. Real-time visibility into deviations, particularly within quality workflows, enables faster corrective action. Personalized workspaces further empower users to act on insights relevant to their operational role.
System Integration & Interoperability: Comprehensive integration with DCS, ERP, SCADA, and LIMS systems to support enterprise-wide synchronization of production and inventory data.

QKS Group Names Emerson a Leader in SPARK Matrix, 2024

Emerson’s leadership positioning in the SPARK Matrix reflects its sustained innovation, deep domain expertise in life sciences, and strong alignment with the digital transformation goals of pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Emerson’s MES Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Emerson delivers its MES capabilities through the DeltaV™ Manufacturing Execution System, which is tailored to the stringent needs of pharmaceutical and biotech production.

Emerson’s MES offers a comprehensive, flexible, and GMP-compliant framework that addresses key biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturing needs:

Recipe Authoring and Management: Allows creation, modification, and approval of recipes with full regulatory compliance and alignment to batch production records.
Weighing & Dispensing Workstations: Streamlines material staging and dispensing with integrated scales, barcode scanning, and automated data capture to ensure right-first-time execution.
Electronic Batch Records (EBR): Ensures complete traceability and real-time compliance reporting, reducing paper-based documentation and audit risks.
Integrated Workflows: Coordinates human and automated tasks, from raw material reception to enforcement of equipment and material status checks, to final product packaging, increasing efficiency and minimizing process variability.

With deep integration to Emerson’s DeltaV Distributed Control System and support for enterprise-wide deployments, DeltaV MES provides robust scalability, enhanced security, and cloud-enabled data visibility. Emerson also supports Microsoft Azure-based cloud architectures and deployments, empowering pharmaceutical manufacturers to accelerate digital maturity while meeting regulatory obligations.

Conclusion

As biotech and pharmaceutical companies face mounting pressure to digitize, comply, and optimize, Emerson’s DeltaV MES solution provides a trusted foundation for batch process excellence. Its recognition as a Leader in QKS Group’s SPARK Matrix for Manufacturing Execution Systems – Process and Batch, 2024, reaffirms its commitment to innovation, compliance, and operational agility in biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturing. With core capabilities like recipe management, electronic weighing, materials and inventory management, equipment tracking, electronic batch records, and seamless plant-to-enterprise integration, Emerson stands out as a digital partner of choice for biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturers worldwide.

Visit the DeltaV Manufacturing Execution Systems section on Emerson.com for more information on driving improved manufacturing performance.

The post Emerson Recognized as a Leader in QKS Group’s SPARK Matrix for Manufacturing Execution Systems – Process and Batch appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Cosun leverages real-time information for value creation

Jim Cahill — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 05:00:30 GMT

At the Emerson Exchange EMEA 2024 in Düsseldorf, Robin Kobesen, innovation manager smart operations at Cosun, provided an overview of the company’s Smart Operations program, including many of its organizational, technical and project-related challenges and best practices. His presentation, entitled `Ignite collaboration through real-time predictions’, won the award for most innovative Boundless Automation application.

Daan Brinkman, from Cosun, receives an award on behalf of his colleague Robin Kobesen for the presentation demonstrating the most innovative Boundless Automation application at the Emerson Exchange EMEA 2024.

Cosun produces sugar and refined sugar products, processing 68,000 tons of beet a day at 25 factories in eight countries. The company’s Smart Operations program, which began in 2022, aims to create more productive and sustainable operations by providing plant operators and engineers with real-time digital insights that support data-driven decision-making.

The program will transition Cosun’s factories from what Kobesen described as “traditional operations”, to real-time optimized operations. This will be achieved through a series of steps, with competences, value, cost savings and knowledge increased with every step.

The first step is to achieve more stable operations, which would require the implementation of dedicated dashboards, data analytics, alarm management and control loops in auto mode. There would also need to be improvements to field equipment, PID tuning and regulatory control. The next step, to `constrained operations’, would be achieved through advanced process control (model predictive control), predictive maintenance strategies and greater use of soft sensors. The final step to `optimized operation’ would require dynamic modeling and use of digital twin technology to enable real-time process optimization.

Kobesen described the plant digital maturity model, including the objectives and the digital transformation building blocks required to achieve those objectives. Cosun was looking to move to the third level, with the objective of making data-based decisions. The Smart Operations program requires the digital transformation of Cosun’s factories. At the factory level, there would be a need for greater use of dashboards and predictive maintenance to get the basics right. From an infrastructure point of view, that means increasing the availability of secure and real-time data. Generating business value would then require advanced process control, energy monitoring, and KPI dashboarding to increase efficiency, provide business insights and retain knowledge.

Data lake concept

Connectivity is a key driver to create impactful change, with the need to provide access to process performance, equipment and energy consumption data from each factory and use this to establish baselines, understand best practices and make improvements. A key challenge was the ability to turn raw plant floor data into actionable information for decision-makers. Kobesen said that “contextualized real-time data is essential”. Achieving this begins with a solid data architecture. The IT/OT architecture needs to be able to integrate a variety of different data sources across the entire supply chain and product lifecycle. Structured, semi-structured and unstructured data will be provided to the data lake, which then feeds reporting, data science and machine learning tools.

Emerson’s AMS Optics asset performance software and Inmation data management software from AspenTech have been implemented at 25 facilities. These platforms aggregate operational data from across the facility and create a data lake – a centralized storage repository – that serves as the foundation for business intelligence and analytics. Kobesen provided several reasons for their section. Firstly, he said that all technology would be “under one roof”, including off-the-shelf asset templates with embedded pattern recognition algorithms, FMEA models, and integrated first principles rules based on over 40 years of experience in the field – combined with contextualized data and deep connectivity. He also explained that the off-the-shelf asset templates eliminate the need for data scientist resources and reduce the implementation and adoption cycle significantly. By implementing readily available expertise knowledge, short-term wins are possible.

Cosun is taking a stepped approach to digitally transform its factories to optimized operation.

Kobesen explained that the data architecture is managed centrally and the lessons learned from implementation at one site have been brought to the next. He then gave some examples of how the technology is being used.

At one of its smaller facilities, in Zwolle, The Netherlands, the existing data management system was based on an Excel plug-in historian that offered no self-service data connection and had reached the end of its service life. This has been replaced with Inmation software, made available from the enterprise, which provides real-time information management across operations, process control and IT systems. Six dashboards have replaced 50 Excel views and provide flexible analysis functionality for control room operators. Secure, standardized data is also made available to anyone within the organization who needs it. This facilitates remote assistance from subject matter experts. Projects are now under way to implement advanced process control to two dryer units as well as remote analytics. Dryers are complex processes for operators to control. A model-based solution will enable optimization, and this will be supplemented by dashboards that provide more process insights.

At the sugar beet factory in Dinteloord, The Netherlands, the goal has been to improve maintenance performance through faster or even predictive actions. Detecting faults before they create issues has been enabled by collecting and analyzing equipment data using AMS 2140 Machinery Health Analyzers from Emerson. For online measurements on other rotating equipment, using technology from other vendors, the raw data is sent to the enterprise data lake provided by Inmation, where it is aggregated and contextualized. For visualization purposes, this data-turned-information is then presented to the plant staff for anomaly detection, diagnostics and predictive maintenance actions.

The sharpness of knives is measured using wireless vibration transmitters, with replacements made when needed, instead of at fixed intervals.

Within the cutting mill at Cosun’s facilty in Vierverlaten, The Netherlands, production optimization has been aided by AMS 9420 Wireless Vibration Transmitters from Emerson. Data from these devices are used to determine when cutting knives need to be changed, ensuring optimal and consistent sugar beet slicing. Given the size and scale of the Vierverlaten plant, in addition to the enterprise data lake, a localized plant asset management system based on Emerson technology is also being used for prioritization of mitigation actions. AMS Device Manager from Emerson allows remote configuration, administration and diagnostics of over 3000 smart and wired and WirelessHART® devices. The condition of over 500 pieces of rotating equipment is established from a combination of route-based inspections/measurements and wireless vibration sensors that provide over 10,000 spectra and time waveforms. AMS Machine Works from Emerson provides a single location where the rotating equipment data comes together to enable easy and accurate assessment of the machinery health in the facility. In doing so, two large and independent maintenance groups – electrical and mechanical – have their own expert tools to drive efficient decision-making.

Key learnings

In conclusion, Kobesen offered some valuable insight and lessons learned. He began by saying buy-in from the board is essential, as is a long-term vision and strategy. Collaboration and forging a strong partnership between operations and corporate IT is also very important. The IT department must build OT knowledge, and OT must adjust to meet corporate requirements. Critically, both domain areas need a common approach to cybersecurity. At Cosun, the implementation of AMS Optics and Inmation was a catalyst for that collaboration. Finally, to speed up the digital transformation process, there needs to be a strong focus on operations. Utilizing real-time insights to reduce energy consumption, and increase throughput, sustainability and quality, will quickly drive enthusiasm. Delivering business value is key.

The post Cosun leverages real-time information for value creation appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Cosun leverages real-time information for value creation

Jim Cahill — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 05:00:30 GMT

Data lake concept

Cosun is taking a stepped approach to digitally transform its factories to optimized operation.

The sharpness of knives is measured using wireless vibration transmitters, with replacements made when needed, instead of at fixed intervals.

Key learnings

The post Cosun leverages real-time information for value creation appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Cosun leverages real-time information for value creation

Jim Cahill — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 05:00:30 GMT

Data lake concept

Cosun is taking a stepped approach to digitally transform its factories to optimized operation.

The sharpness of knives is measured using wireless vibration transmitters, with replacements made when needed, instead of at fixed intervals.

Key learnings

The post Cosun leverages real-time information for value creation appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Digital transformation in chemical processing: how to start small to scale big.

Jim Cahill — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 12:56:33 GMT

The chemical industry is facing a unique challenge: a need for growth along with environmental regulations that each day are becoming stricter and more urgent. Limited resources, an aging workforce, aging equipment: achieving both efficiency and sustainability can seem impossible. But there’s a solution: creating an ecosystem of real-time data and actionable insights. In a word, digital transformation.

Unlocking Data’s Power
Many chemical plants that still rely on outdated equipment are unable to capture valuable data. Smart sensors, valves, and control systems are changing the game, turning data into actionable insights, and informed decisions. Cloud-based technologies like edge computing and analytics provide real-time visibility into operations, allowing for immediate and long-term optimization.

Scaling Up, Step by Step
Companies at different stages of their digital journey need customized solutions. Still they may not have the immediate capability or resources to implement a radical change across their whole enterprise. Starting a pilot program in controlled settings like labs offer a low-risk way to test technology and measure ROI. By focusing on specific challenges like energy efficiency or waste reduction, these programs showcase the potential benefits.

From Pilot to Enterprise
Once success is proven, scaling up becomes the goal. Optimizing key applications can accelerate growth, with gradual expansion across machines, lines, or entire plants. Flexible and open architecture ensures the system adapts to changing needs and integrates with existing software. Smart commissioning tools minimize downtime during implementation while templates based on existing components and process control data simplify system migration without losing any information for a smooth integration.

A comprehensive approach to digital transformation in chemical processing allows companies to utilize technology and expertise better than ever before.

Sustainability: A Data-Driven Journey
Meeting ambitious sustainability goals requires real-time data and clear analytics. Digital transformation provides the tools to track resource usage, identify waste, and optimize processes. Predictive maintenance minimizes energy peaks and prevents unnecessary equipment usage. Visualization tools allow for testing and root-cause analysis to further improve efficiency.

Investing in the Future
Digital transformation is an ongoing journey. Chemical companies that invest in data-driven systems will gain a competitive edge in efficiency and sustainability. Scalability ensures future-proof solutions that adapt and grow along with your business. Connecting plants and enterprises unlocks the full potential for increased efficiency and a sustainable future for the chemical processing industry.
For a deeper dive on this topic, you can read the full article from Emerson’s expert Martino Caranti here.

The post Digital transformation in chemical processing: how to start small to scale big. appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Digital transformation in chemical processing: how to start small to scale big.

Jim Cahill — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 12:56:33 GMT

A comprehensive approach to digital transformation in chemical processing allows companies to utilize technology and expertise better than ever before.

The post Digital transformation in chemical processing: how to start small to scale big. appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

Digital transformation in chemical processing: how to start small to scale big..

Jim Cahill — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 12:56:33 GMT

A comprehensive approach to digital transformation in chemical processing allows companies to utilize technology and expertise better than ever before.

The post Digital transformation in chemical processing: how to start small to scale big.. appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation

Jim Cahill — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 22:48:31 GMT

Everyone in industry and business uses the term digital transformation, but there are myriad definitions and meanings behind their casual use of the words. This can be confusing for an enterprise just considering or embarking on its digital transformation journey. Recently in InTech magazine, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts and Emerson’s philosophy on what digital transformation is and how to implement it, regardless of what step your company is currently working on. Here are some of those ideas.

Common Themes
No matter what a user’s definition of digital transformation is, it generally involves achieving these business benefits:

Optimize efficiency
Ensure quality
Minimize downtime
Improve sustainability
Support problem solving
Increase safety

Significant business outcomes mean that digital transformation has to start at the plant floor and proceed all the way to the cloud. This requires beginning at the OT (operational technology) level and transporting valuable information to the IT (informational technology) level.

Plan First
Even if an organization is enmeshed in implementing digital transformation at some level, if the planning step was skipped, it can be worthwhile to go back and answer important questions. For newcomers to digital transformation, it’s essential. Here are the questions:

What problem is being solved? What is the root cause of the pain?
Who is affected? Identify all internal and external stakeholders at every level.
Why does the problem need to be solved? What are the benefits of resolving it?
Is the problem worth solving? What is the cost vs projected value of success?
What information is needed to solve the problem?

Identify the Automation Maturity
What step is taken first depends on the organization’s automation maturity.

Manual operations: Data is collected by hand and trapped on paper or in isolated databases.
Islands of automation: Control systems collect some time-series process data, but they may not be connected to higher-level systems.
Connected automation: Control systems data is aggregated by historians or other higher-level computing assets, with some level of interconnectedness.
Enhanced connectivity and analysis: Data is widely available for analysis, and other non-process information, such as equipment diagnostics, is also collected and stored.
Insight-driven operations: Data is collected throughout the organization, from the shop floor up to cloud-based enterprise systems, with advanced analytics software in place, leading to actionable insights and forecasts.

Other key factors are the current comfort level of personnel with technology and the data that can result from implementation and how much technology the company already has in place to handle the problems to be solved.

Start Small, but Plan for Scalability
Once an organization realizes the extraordinary benefits that can be achieved through digital transformation, the temptation is to do everything at once. That approach, however, can be overwhelming and bring the entire operation to a standstill. Instead, identify individual problems to be solved that can produce lucrative results and implement them. Every step of success bolsters confidence in the plan and keeps the budget under control. It’s essential, however, to plan for growth and easy scalability. Otherwise, the organization can create more dead ends and automation islands. Choose technology solutions wisely to assure a clear, affordable path of scalability.

Pick a Platform Carefully
Because digital transformation focuses on solving business problems, and many stakeholders are non-technical, it’s good to select hardware/software platforms that conform to accepted stands, provide interoperability and give the organization maximum flexibility. In the long term, this approach will ensure faster, more affordable implementation. It’s essential that users select platforms that encompass solutions from the floor to the cloud:

Field devices: sensors, actuators, motor controllers.
Computing hardware: protocol and network conversion gateways, programmable logic controllers (PLCs)/programmable automation controllers (PACs), edge controllers, operator interfaces, industrial PCs.
Software: control development environments, human-machine interface (HMI)/supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), data servers, analytics for productivity and energy management, edge computing, and connectivity.
Services: implementation expertise supported by a team of engineers and developers

The digital transformation journey is different for each organization, but I’ve touched on common best-practice guidelines that can be followed to improve success. The primary goals are connecting smart technologies to valuable field data, providing visibility, and delivering actionable results through analytics to help users optimize their operations.

If you’d like to read the entire article, check it out here. And get more information on the Floor to Cloud^TM approach to digital transformation here.

The post A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation

Jim Cahill — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 22:48:31 GMT

Common Themes
No matter what a user’s definition of digital transformation is, it generally involves achieving these business benefits:

Optimize efficiency
Ensure quality
Minimize downtime
Improve sustainability
Support problem solving
Increase safety

What problem is being solved? What is the root cause of the pain?
Who is affected? Identify all internal and external stakeholders at every level.
Why does the problem need to be solved? What are the benefits of resolving it?
Is the problem worth solving? What is the cost vs projected value of success?
What information is needed to solve the problem?

Identify the Automation Maturity
What step is taken first depends on the organization’s automation maturity.

Manual operations: Data is collected by hand and trapped on paper or in isolated databases.
Islands of automation: Control systems collect some time-series process data, but they may not be connected to higher-level systems.
Connected automation: Control systems data is aggregated by historians or other higher-level computing assets, with some level of interconnectedness.
Enhanced connectivity and analysis: Data is widely available for analysis, and other non-process information, such as equipment diagnostics, is also collected and stored.
Insight-driven operations: Data is collected throughout the organization, from the shop floor up to cloud-based enterprise systems, with advanced analytics software in place, leading to actionable insights and forecasts.

Field devices: sensors, actuators, motor controllers.
Computing hardware: protocol and network conversion gateways, programmable logic controllers (PLCs)/programmable automation controllers (PACs), edge controllers, operator interfaces, industrial PCs.
Software: control development environments, human-machine interface (HMI)/supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), data servers, analytics for productivity and energy management, edge computing, and connectivity.
Services: implementation expertise supported by a team of engineers and developers

If you’d like to read the entire article, check it out here. And get more information on the Floor to Cloud^TM approach to digital transformation here.

The post A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation

Jim Cahill — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 22:48:31 GMT

Common Themes
No matter what a user’s definition of digital transformation is, it generally involves achieving these business benefits:

Optimize efficiency
Ensure quality
Minimize downtime
Improve sustainability
Support problem solving
Increase safety

What problem is being solved? What is the root cause of the pain?
Who is affected? Identify all internal and external stakeholders at every level.
Why does the problem need to be solved? What are the benefits of resolving it?
Is the problem worth solving? What is the cost vs projected value of success?
What information is needed to solve the problem?

Identify the Automation Maturity
What step is taken first depends on the organization’s automation maturity.

Manual operations: Data is collected by hand and trapped on paper or in isolated databases.
Islands of automation: Control systems collect some time-series process data, but they may not be connected to higher-level systems.
Connected automation: Control systems data is aggregated by historians or other higher-level computing assets, with some level of interconnectedness.
Enhanced connectivity and analysis: Data is widely available for analysis, and other non-process information, such as equipment diagnostics, is also collected and stored.
Insight-driven operations: Data is collected throughout the organization, from the shop floor up to cloud-based enterprise systems, with advanced analytics software in place, leading to actionable insights and forecasts.

Field devices: sensors, actuators, motor controllers.
Computing hardware: protocol and network conversion gateways, programmable logic controllers (PLCs)/programmable automation controllers (PACs), edge controllers, operator interfaces, industrial PCs.
Software: control development environments, human-machine interface (HMI)/supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), data servers, analytics for productivity and energy management, edge computing, and connectivity.
Services: implementation expertise supported by a team of engineers and developers

If you’d like to read the entire article, check it out here. And get more information on the Floor to Cloud^TM approach to digital transformation here.

The post A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™︎ Platform

Jim Cahill — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 23:28:54 GMT

Hello everyone. I’m Ajay Rana and recently, in an article in Food Manufacturing, I had the opportunity to talk about an interesting case study with FEI Foods, Europe’s largest producer of ready-to-eat rice and grain pouches, based in South Wales, UK. I think it has some good information for any plant.

Due to demand, FEI Foods’ existing production facilities had been operating at full capacity for several years, which prompted the decision to design and build a new 250,000 sq ft state-of-the-art factory in Llantrisant, Wales. FEI Foods then had the perfect opportunity to digitally transform its existing operational technology and practices with the implementation of advanced automation software to help maximize plant efficiency and productivity. A key focus was improving access to and transfer of data to support inventory management, and for packaging production and printing. At the existing FEI Foods production facilities, all inventory control declarations and the sending of production information to printers for packaging and labelling was performed manually. FEI Foods executives wanted to fully automate this process to increase efficiency and remove the potential for human error. Another key requirement was the need to provide both operators and executives with full visibility of the production process and OEE, as well as access to key operational data on which continuous improvement decisions could be based. They determined that to provide the necessary information for operations and engineering teams, an integrated SCADA solution was needed that was able to interconnect all the new automation equipment over the factory data communication network. In addition, the new solution needed to interface with the FEI Foods enterprise resource planning (ERP) and inventory control systems, as well as printing, labelling and applicators. This would enable automatic production declarations to be performed at the end of every batch. The systems integrator for FEI Foods, PLATCON, in turn selected Movicon.NExT software as a platform able to provide full SCADA functionality and go beyond it.

The Movicon.NExT platform interconnects all the new automation equipment over the factory data communication network. In addition, it interfaces with the FEI Foods enterprise resource planning (ERP) and inventory control systems, as well as printing, labelling and applicators. This enables automatic production declarations to be performed at the end of every batch. To eliminate the inefficiency and inconvenience of a manual inventory system, Emerson worked with PLATCON to develop a webservices interface to allow the Movicon.NExT platform to communicate with the inventory control system. The new system also enables the automatic transfer of production information to inkjet printers, case and pallet labelers and barcode scanners. The Movicon.NExT platform is connected to the factory data network, and six monitors in the control room give the operations team full process visibility. Ten web clients have been installed that provide secure remote access, enabling accredited operators to view and interrogate the process. All the stand-alone automation systems have been integrated, allowing communication with each other via Ethernet and providing complete visibility of the process and product data tracking. To understand the OEE and performance of the facility, the Movicon Pro.Lean™ module connects to 20 pieces of equipment. Key performance data is collected and analyzed to calculate the OEE and measure downtimes. This provides FEI Foods with process improvement insights, and helps the company reduce equipment failures and improve OEE.

In addition to providing the functionality to meet the requirements of FEI Foods, the Movicon.NExT platform proved to be easy to use and a powerful development tool for system integrator PLATCON.

While FEI Foods chose to implement Movicon.NExT software in a greenfield plant, the platform is easy to integrate and put to use in existing installations. If you’d like to read the entire Food Manufacturing story, you’ll find it here.

And more information on Movicon.NExT software is here.

The post FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™ Platform appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™︎ Platform

Jim Cahill — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 23:28:54 GMT

In addition to providing the functionality to meet the requirements of FEI Foods, the Movicon.NExT platform proved to be easy to use and a powerful development tool for system integrator PLATCON.

And more information on Movicon.NExT software is here.

The post FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™ Platform appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™︎ Platform

Jim Cahill — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 23:28:54 GMT

In addition to providing the functionality to meet the requirements of FEI Foods, the Movicon.NExT platform proved to be easy to use and a powerful development tool for system integrator PLATCON.

And more information on Movicon.NExT software is here.

The post FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™ Platform appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.