Maximising the return from automation investment

SCADA/HMI

August 2004 SCADA/HMI Surveillance

The food and beverage industry requires engineering solutions that are unique due to the nature of the goods produced. While quality control, enhanced productivity and profitability are crucial to a company's success, compliance with regulations is also paramount in this field.

The advent of FDA 21 CFR Part 11, of the Bioterrorism Act and the growing expectations by customers that GAMP4 processes are being used in the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry is enough to cause headaches for any organisation wishing to remain competitive. Innovative solutions to plant expansion and modernisation can prevent costly disruptions to production, which is especially important to an industry producing primarily perishable goods.

Ensuring the quality and safety of products is of top priority to manufacturers in the F&B industry. Product recalls are common and often go unnoticed, as most do not pose a serious threat to public health. However, unsafe products do occasionally reach consumers, requiring tremendous efforts in identification and recall. That includes detection of the source of the problem and of additional products that might be tainted. Manufacturers go to great efforts to protect product brand value and reduce brand risks because a single product recall has the potential to destroy a brand.

Beiersdorf and Fargo examples

For leading international consumer goods companies such as Arnotts, BakeMark and Beiersdorf AG, increasing productivity has been the challenge and in each case, Citect has provided a reliable solution.

"Citectscada Batch increases the efficiency of our plants and ensures a continuously high quality of manufacturing. It offers the required flexibility in order to meet all demands concerning a user friendly operation as well as a GMP-compliant documentation," explains Klaus Maiwald of Production Management at Beiersdorf - CPG, Berlin.

For others, such as MacDonald's hamburger supplier, Farlo, Citect delivered a system to enable traceability. "In our business, traceability is very important," says Barbro Bengtsson, project leader at Farlo. "If something should happen, we need to trace all source components to ensure that only the highest quality beef reaches our customers."

"We gain a lot from an integrated system which encompasses the whole process, the information flow creates a holistic approach and increases efficiency as well as reliability in our daily work."

Total integrated solution

Calling it 'Plant Floor to the Store', Citect has developed a recipe for success aimed at ensuring that manufacturers' business and production processes are both competitive and compliant. The total integrated solution combines the reliability and scalability of its Citectscada Batch solution with the enterprise-wide, realtime analytical information management modules, CitectIIM Tracking and Quality, and the wealth of experience from its Professional Services team, to ensure:

* Consistent high quality.

* Product genealogy from the suppliers to distributors.

* Connectivity to plant and business systems to support realtime decision making.

Figure 1. Plant Floor to the Store

For more information contact Lauren Pistorius, sales coordinator, Citect South Africa, 011 699 6600, laurenpistorius@citect.com, www.citect.com

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SCADA/HMI

Maximising the return from automation investment

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