Automated Oversight: Smart Control Systems Keep Food Production in Check

Smart control systems are a very affordable solution to the challenge of monitoring and controlling a wide range of metrics within the potato processing and storage sectors. They can respond to equipment and processes across large volumes of product, performing consistently throughout lengthy processes.
The demand for processed potatoes has increased, requiring more control and oversight throughout the manufacturing process. The profitability and quality of the processed potato production lines can be significantly impacted by tiny details, as many producers sell to major retail chains that operate on a large volume/small margin basis.
The maintenance of distinct values within predetermined bounds is one of the primary functions of smart control systems in these particular food processing and storage businesses. Ensuring that specific metrics are kept within a given range might be crucial to the process’s overall performance to assure consistency and output quality. This could be anything from the frying oil volume in a regulated tank to temperature and other parameters.
The primary hub of the control system receives input from very sensitive sensors, and it can then react by regulating the required machinery to bring the deviation back within the process’ predetermined bounds. Control systems can easily be built to work with the machinery needed in the potato processing and storage sectors. This suggests that they are particularly useful assets for guaranteeing quality is maintained across a big product output since they can efficiently regulate these values across multiple processes.
Rosenqvists Food Technologies and PMA Gave Orkla a New, Standardized HMI Platform
At Orkla’s Haraldsby facility in Åland, numerous systems were operating with antiquated machinery. To accomplish effective, secure, and long-lasting production, Orkla had to guarantee uptime and operation. By utilizing Siemens panels and visualization software within the Simatic WinCC Unified System, PMA has lifted the bar with a new, standardized HMI platform in collaboration with Rosenqvists Food Technologies.
“We like to be at the cutting edge. To do so, we have to go out on a limb and test new technology,” according to Christer Söderström, factory manager at Orkla.
Orkla can manufacture the same amounts more effectively while keeping an eye on key performance indicators to react to deviations more quickly. Throughout the process feeder, user-friendliness is increased, resource consumption is optimized, waste is decreased, quality is enhanced, and safety standards are strengthened.
“This is how you keep a step ahead of the competition,” says Thomas Nilsson, operating manager at Rosenqvists Food Technologies, who has worked with Orkla for many years and specializes in building machines and process lines for snacks and frozen potato products.
At the Haraldsby facility, 38,000 tonnes of potatoes are utilized annually to make 15,000 tonnes of finished potato products, including chips, French fries, and pyttipanna hash. The factory has now made a move in the direction of safer, more effective, and environmentally friendly production.
“Enhanced data collection capabilities enable Orkla to reduce its energy use and media consumption, in the form of process water for example, and give operators a better overview of what is happening in the process. Orkla gets better quality and a reduction in resource losses, resulting in a greener footprint,” Niklas Möllerstedt, account manager for Orkla at Rosenqvists, mentioned.
You can read the rest of this article in your complimentary e-copy of Issue 2 of Potato Business Dossier 2024, which you can access by clicking here.