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MEAT PROCESSING CASE STUDY: Improving Ready-made Products
By Carina Malm FMC FoodTech
Using poultry, meat or fish? Process control and monitoring can optimize recipes, ensure an even product, and improve traceability.
1 October 2006
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Food processor Findus has two lines for meat products—one for flat and one for round.
The Swedish company says it works with expensive raw ma¬terials that have to be used as eco¬nomically as possible. As a result, Findus decided to revamp their meat line. “Our goal is increased yield, less weight variations, better use of equipment, and in¬creased productivity,” says Kenneth Malmqvist, production manager, Findus. “We chose [to rework] the line for flat products because it’s the newest and offers the best opportunities for impacting our process¬ing parameters.”
Automated processes
So the first pilot installation of FMC’s LINK Process Analy¬sis was implemented with the aim to automate how product data—like weight, temperature, batch number, etc—is fed into the system. Findus wanted to improve product quality and productivity, while reducing food wastage and varia¬tions between the different runs. (Since the raw materials of shaped, fried and breaded products often vary, it may be dif¬ficult to get the exact same results every time. Just a few degrees over the correct cooking temperature causes yield loss and a lower-quality product.)
Close inspection
All production data—actual tempera¬tures, belt speed, pressure, etc— is logged automatically during the run. All three production rooms (raw materials, cook, and freezing and packaging) have a touch display, where staff continuously monitors product weight and temperature. The target is six samples per hour.
The screens show how each run lies in relation to the target (e.g. weight, and upper and lower limits). All data is stored in the same database and can then be se¬lected by quality supervisors for analysis.
“With both product and process data in the same system, you can see exactly how the machines were set when the best results were achieved,” explains Thomas Lundqvist, FMC FoodTech. “And traceability increases because you can see exactly when something happened during pro¬duction.”
Fine tuning
By analyzing data from the system, recipes are constantly optimized and the system is updated with new targets, and upper and lower limits. A temperature alarm, for example, can also be added to warn of cooking temperatures that are too high.
Results
Kenneth Malmqvist expects a reported ROI of less than one year. “I used to have to download data from several different systems and then wait until information was processed,” he comments. “Now, one person will work solely with data analyses from the system.”
Meanwhile in Asia Pacific, “the first LINK systems have been installed with a processor in Australia. And there is growing interest from exporting companies in Thailand and China that want to increase product yields, and record their process parameters and product temperatures for good traceability,” says Per Friberg, marketing manager, FMC FoodTech Asia Pacific.
The Swedish company says it works with expensive raw ma¬terials that have to be used as eco¬nomically as possible. As a result, Findus decided to revamp their meat line. “Our goal is increased yield, less weight variations, better use of equipment, and in¬creased productivity,” says Kenneth Malmqvist, production manager, Findus. “We chose [to rework] the line for flat products because it’s the newest and offers the best opportunities for impacting our process¬ing parameters.”
Automated processes
So the first pilot installation of FMC’s LINK Process Analy¬sis was implemented with the aim to automate how product data—like weight, temperature, batch number, etc—is fed into the system. Findus wanted to improve product quality and productivity, while reducing food wastage and varia¬tions between the different runs. (Since the raw materials of shaped, fried and breaded products often vary, it may be dif¬ficult to get the exact same results every time. Just a few degrees over the correct cooking temperature causes yield loss and a lower-quality product.)
Close inspectionAll production data—actual tempera¬tures, belt speed, pressure, etc— is logged automatically during the run. All three production rooms (raw materials, cook, and freezing and packaging) have a touch display, where staff continuously monitors product weight and temperature. The target is six samples per hour.
The screens show how each run lies in relation to the target (e.g. weight, and upper and lower limits). All data is stored in the same database and can then be se¬lected by quality supervisors for analysis.
“With both product and process data in the same system, you can see exactly how the machines were set when the best results were achieved,” explains Thomas Lundqvist, FMC FoodTech. “And traceability increases because you can see exactly when something happened during pro¬duction.”
Fine tuning
By analyzing data from the system, recipes are constantly optimized and the system is updated with new targets, and upper and lower limits. A temperature alarm, for example, can also be added to warn of cooking temperatures that are too high.
Results
Kenneth Malmqvist expects a reported ROI of less than one year. “I used to have to download data from several different systems and then wait until information was processed,” he comments. “Now, one person will work solely with data analyses from the system.”
Meanwhile in Asia Pacific, “the first LINK systems have been installed with a processor in Australia. And there is growing interest from exporting companies in Thailand and China that want to increase product yields, and record their process parameters and product temperatures for good traceability,” says Per Friberg, marketing manager, FMC FoodTech Asia Pacific.
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