Everything about your final product looks fine. The only problem is that when you ship the product, you may also be shipping a small bit of your profit. Every bottle or package that is overfilled or contains some little mistake in its recipe carries with it a tiny amount of your bottom line. Underfilling also produces unwanted results. When consumers purchase your product, they expect to receive the amount you clearly state on your labels. Should they realize or even suspect they are not receiving everything they paid for, you lose customer goodwill. And lost goodwill is very difficult to regain.From the first step in processing to the final step in moving the products to the customer, food and beverage processors must carefully monitor and control product and raw material weights. For example, once bread dough has been prepared, ensuring high-volume, accurately divided portions is essential to managing final product weights and, ultimately, profitability. Often, these losses are hidden in product variances, inaccurate ingredient mixing, and wastes created during changeovers. 

Even with an excellent program for measuring OEE and other operating KPIs, material wastes can occur at points along the process. Production counts, downtime, feeds and speeds, throughput, and inventory records won’t necessarily reflect what amount you might be losing because of inaccurate measuring and filling.

Link Checkweighers to Smart Software to Save Raw Materials

Scales and checkweighers play a central role in monitoring and controlling raw material usages along your lines. From measuring batch quantities of raw materials based on recipes for initial product mixing to filling packages and bottles at the final stages of production, scales and checkweighers can give you the data you need to manage materials.

However, if you are manually collecting weights and measures for raw materials, there is a good possibility that even with results in hand, incorrect final products are already out the door. Effectively using scales and weighers means connecting them to your Smart Factory software and collecting and analyzing data in real time. This approach makes sense, saves money almost immediately, and gives you a quick ROI. 

Worximity’s Smart Factory data capture system is designed so processors can easily link the software to scales and checkweighers. Readings and measurements are then collected in real time and sent to storage in the cloud. The data is then analyzed, and customized reports are generated and displayed on TileBoards (monitors) throughout your factory.

Gather Data at Multiple Points Along Your Process Line

With real-time data, you can monitor whether scale measurements are within statistical control limits—and it may even be possible to tighten those limits to further decrease raw material waste. Worximity's Smart Factory analytics software allows for the integration of online monitors and checkweighers, which gives your company more reliable and up-to-the-minute data to better manage product quality, throughput, downtime, and raw material usage. 

Material losses can occur anywhere along the production line. Ingredient weights blended into recipes can be inaccurate, portioning and dividing at various points along the process can be out of adjustment, excess waste can occur during changeovers, and fillers may cause giveaways. Without careful monitoring at strategic points, these wastes send profits out the door. When your line is giving away product with every fill or incorrectly mixed recipe batches, you undermine your ability to maximize total business results.

Worximity’s Smart Factory Analytics Offers a Range of Options to Help Cut Costs

In-line checkweighers and scales must run at planned line speeds and complete high-speed product measurements based on spacing. Frequent quality checks of weighing accuracy and precision should be completed to ensure the resulting data and analysis are a true reflection of operating conditions. Many processors tend to focus on weighing final products, but applications such as weighing, sorting, and labeling of packages exist throughout the plant. Taking care to select checkpoints along the processing line where item weights are taken can pay dividends.

Talk to Worximity and Start Saving Raw Material Costs Today

Worximity is the industry leader in Smart Factory software for food and beverage processors. Our Smart Factory analytics system is economical, customizable, and easy to install. In fact, you can begin collecting live data within 24 hours of starting your implementation. Data is collected from sensors attached to equipment and sent to the cloud. Our Smart Factory analytics software then generates customized reports that are displayed on TileBoards (monitors) throughout the factory. Employees can monitor line and operations conditions and take actions should conditions warrant.  

Our systems give processors the edge needed in today's demanding marketplace. When you partner with Worximity, you can count on smart software systems that deliver reliable performance, exceptional quality, and rugged dependability. To preview how Worximity can help your company become a Smart Factory, download our free Smart Factory Analytics eBook. Or connect with us directly via our website.