Our survey on p. 64 documents the pitfalls packagers have experienced in collecting data, converting it into knowledge, and acting on it. But there’s no question that the payoff—boosting line efficiencies and correcting quality problems early—is too great to ignore. In the pages that follow, we present several successful data acquisition implementations.
Pinpointing bagging inefficiencies
User: Tom’s Foods, Columbus, GA
Application: Vf/f/s for 1-oz to 5-oz bags of potato chips.
Data collected: Product weight/giveaway, machine efficiencies, downtime, mechanical failures, or employee error.
Benefits: Improves line efficiency by 2.5%, helps reduce giveaway and downtime. Convenient monitoring in an office.
Technology: TNA’s Intelli-Sys software combines the control of the ROBAG vf/f/s, scale and ancillary components. Software runs on a PC that’s accessible to several people.
How it works: System uses load cells, sensors, and encoders on scale buckets, film unwind, vacuum belts, and seal jaws that make mathematical calculations and relay data to the PC via an Ethernet connection. That information is viewed on the PC screen and may be printed out for further study.
Who uses data: Production manager and production supervisors.
Networks: Software is networked to production manager’s PC.
Quote: “I think the biggest thing that it’s helped us do is pinpoint employee issues [related to the equipment] by letting us know why someone has turned off a machine, or why a changeover has taken too long, or issues related to machine efficiency and product weights.” —Jay Edmundson, production manager, Tom’s Foods.
