Bühler
IoT Takes Bühler Group from Field to Fork.
IoT exponentially increases the efficiency of Bühler Group’s food processing equipment.
Executive summary
Bühler Group uses IoT in the food processing industry to minimize waste, improve quality, increase yields, reduce downtime and slash energy use. The result for their customers is more control of the food production process and huge cost savings.
Challenge
Bühler Group wanted to offer their customers more insight into their food production process by collecting data from the machines for analysis. They first needed the right architecture to help gather this data. With thousands of machines worldwide, the solution also had to be easily scalable. Furthermore, some machines had no digitalization capabilities so it was imperative to bring them into the digital era.
A scalable, secure architecture
After some research, Bühler decided the best solution was a cloud-based IoT solution. The flexibility of the cloud means the solution easily scales from a small pilot to cover millions of devices worldwide.
The challenge of the project was connecting all existing equipment to the internet. However, older machinery had no digitalization capabilities, so needed an upgrade.
The next challenge the team faced was setting up a robust yet flexible architecture that could capture the data. This architecture not only had to be bi-directional, but also secure, scalable, and easily deployable worldwide
Approach
Codit combined Microsoft Azure and IoT technologies to form a comprehensive solution that can seamlessly scale worldwide. Older equipment was retrofitted in order to capture data and deliver indispensable knowledge about every step in the production process for maximum efficiency. Azure was also used as the cloud-based data integration platform.
Retrofitting machines for the new digital era
Azure was the no-contest winner as the cloud-based data integration platform. Codit immediately got to work developing a robust architecture for data collection.
They then brought older machinery into the digital era by retrofitting them them with specific software that securely aggregates data from the equipment and then sends it to the cloud-based platform.
Because the machines were retrofitted with Azure cloud-based solutions, they’re scalable and easy to deploy worldwide. Bühler decided to pilot this new system in their Chocolate Division, which provides equipment to chocolate manufacturers worldwide.
Results
The Chocolate Division pilot was a massive success, and they are now rolling out this new tech to other divisions. Bühler Group estimated that in the first phase they could save 15% of the food waste, labor costs would be reduced by 30% and energy costs by 5%.
High yield, high quality, high efficiency
Manuel Hoehener was impressed with the results. “It has been better than expected. So far, every customer using our new service has had a throughput increase of 10-20%, with high stability around the clock and no operator interaction. In other words, higher yield, higher quality and higher efficiency.”
“We wanted to offer real and tangible benefits, not a vague promise. And with Codit’s help, that’s exactly what our IoT solution does. We are now determining value propositions for our other divisions, to expand this success throughout our business.”
Stuart Bashford
Digital Officer in the Corporate Technology Department, Bühler.
About us
At Codit we want to help make the world an even smarter place. By creating customer cloud solutions that make the world’s data work better, we help our customers to evolve, and touch the lives of millions across the globe.
Our team of 200 employees across our offices in Belgium, France, Portugal, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Malta and Luxembourg use leading Microsoft Azure Cloud Native technologies to put the world’s data to work.
From the creation of data platforms that aid the development of smart cities, to solutions that push forward the production of renewable energy, Codit has been helping our customers to realize their ideals and to strive for a better, more future-orientated world for over twenty years.
