How inline process measurement can increase yield in Food and Beverage

The Food & Beverage sector is highly regulated, leading to conservative operations and some lost opportunities in throughput and yield. However, a growing demand for food security is driving producers to find ways to make more product from their existing assets.

Opportunities exist throughout the production phases, from raw materials reception to Cleaning in Place (CIP) and blending and mixing. One key factor in accessing these opportunities is the expansion of inline process measurement. In this blog, we explore how inline process measurement can overcome some of the production challenges in the Food & Beverage industry, thus enabling producers to increase their yield.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're interested in delving further into the subject of efficient production in the food and beverage industry, we invite you to visit our website. There, you'll find valuable resources discussing the benefits of real-time inline insights in optimizing manufacturing processes that will help you move your productivity needle.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reducing waste

A major contributor to lower yields in Food & Beverage production is the loss of product to waste. This happens when product quality goes off-spec to the extent that an entire batch fails to meet the required specifications. Even though producers tend to operate conservatively to avoid these losses, they generally rely on manual sampling and laboratory tests to confirm current product quality. There is a long delay between taking the sample and obtaining the results, during which time the off-spec product could fill up a tank.

Inline process measurement of quality provides operators and engineers with real-time information. They can immediately adjust the process conditions when the material moves outside an acceptable range. This means that quality deviations will be corrected quickly, lowering the risk of an off-spec batch and product lost to waste. Endress+Hauser field experience indicates that inline quality measurement can reduce the number of deviations from tolerance ranges by 5-6%.

Reducing chemical consumption

CIP uses a significant amount of chemicals as Food & Beverage producers strive to meet the regulatory requirements for transitioning from one product to another. While it is impossible to eliminate chemicals, there are ways to minimize their use during CIP.

Many Food & Beverage producers use a time-based approach to CIP. This approach means that their CIP duration is fixed. They will continue to consume chemicals until the time limit expires, even if the cleaning is already effective. Using inline process measurement can eliminate this wastage by monitoring the phases of the CIP cycle. Engineers can end the CIP cycle immediately on completion instead of waiting for the time to expire.

Temperature control is another factor that affects CIP efficiency. A low temperature extends CIP, using more chemicals in the process. Controlling the temperature too high wastes energy because there is little gain in efficiency above the optimum temperature range. Accurate inline temperature measurement and control allows engineers to optimize their CIP process and minimize chemical and energy losses.

Using inline process measurement, Food & Beverage producers report 25-30% time reductions in their CIP cycle, resulting in 30% chemical savings. They also reduce water usage by up to 15% through phase separation monitoring and control.

Improving quality control

Food & Beverage production is driven by adherence to recipes. Operators would implement recipes manually in the past, but this has progressed to time-based systems. However, time-based recipe control is insufficient to implement modern complex formulations containing multiple ingredients and additives. Operators rely on manual sampling and lab analysis to measure quality during production, but research shows that product quality could vary between 1 and 5% when relying on these manual methods.

Inline process measurement provides valuable insights for mixing and blending. Operators can monitor changes as they add various recipe ingredients and shut off the supply at the optimum point. This improvement in control allows them to lower the risk of a quality incident and ensure greater consistency in consumer experience for their products.

Conclusion

The global demand for food security is creating opportunities for Food & Beverage producers to expand their market reach. However, they need to do this without increasing costs by improving the yield and throughput of their existing asset base. Inline process measurement can help Food & Beverage producers to overcome their challenges and increase the yield of their existing operations. This approach will enable them to make data-driven decisions using real-time information in every stage of Food & Beverage production, from the reception and storage of raw material to CIP and mixing & blending.

To learn more, head on over to our website.