From blade management to fault analysis via video: Westfleisch uses digital solutions from Weber at its Oer-Erkenschwick site.
How can the cause of faults be identified as quickly as possible and eliminated sustainably? Which blade is used in which line? Which products are currently being sliced and packed into portions for the retail market? Do the blades even have suitable specifications for the product they are supposed to slice? And what about aspects such as stability and durability? Finding answers to these questions requires taking a holistic view of the blades, production facilities and products. Digitization provides a necessary overview for this. A look at the production of Westfleisch in Oer-Erkenschwick, north of Dortmund, Germany, shows how reliably and transparently all of this works with a solution from Weber Food Technology.
Digitization brings transparency.
However, when is a slicer blade so dull that it has to be changed and sharpened? At what point in the sharpening process is it really sharp again? And in what state of wear are the blades exactly? Slicer blades are high-precision tools; as the heart of the slicer, they have a decisive influence on the portion placement and last but not least, determine give-away and yield. It is valuable for food producers to have the most precise possible overview of the inventory and condition of their own slicer blades. Currently, this is not possible or only possible with a very great deal of effort. For this reason, the slicer and blade experts at Weber have heavily invested in the development of digital solutions – including Durablade®Care. Under the Durablade brand, Weber sells specially developed and manufactured circular and involute blades for slicers and now an intelligent, digital management system for them as well. “The blade is essential for precisely processing sausage, ham, cheese or vegan products into sliced products,” emphasizes Dennis Kasek as the area sales manager at Weber responsible for Westfleisch. “Every torn or folded slice negatively affects the ok production.” If the slicing process does not run like it should, it also negatively affects the following process. The main focus is on bundling a wide variety of machine and production data as well as the usage and storage places of the blades, which yields information on the production process and the condition of the equipment.
This data can be used to identify trends and unrealized potentials early on. It also provides information on whether a previously used blade type suits a product at all. “With pepper salami, we realized that the wear on blades was high,” recalls Jan Engelhardt. The analysis of the production data from the Weber line, in connection with the information of the Weber weSHARP sharpening station, made it sufficiently clear that the blade design was unsuitable for this raw sausage specialty. Thanks to this realization, a different type of blade was used. Conclusions such as these pay off for Westfleisch. At the end of the day, targeted testing allows the blades that are best suited for the product and application to achieve longer service lives, which directly reduces costs on the equipment side and additionally improves the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). “We can now systematically carry out root cause analysis when increased wear occurs in a production line. This is more than simply following up on a suspicion, and it makes our production more economical,” says a pleased Jan Engelhardt.
Digitization increases system uptime.
The information can be used even when a synchronous transfer is not possible during shift changes. Today, people still evaluate when a blade is sharp with a piece of paper in their hand and above all with experience, explains Jan Engelhardt. With the advent of digitization, a source of information is available that can be filtered and analyzed objectively and irrespectively of time, compared to the purely human wealth of experience. The consolidation into comparable key indicators including visualization opens the door to fast intervention and above all long-term process improvements – the key word being production quality.
The following not only holds true for the blade and the slicing process but for the entire processing operation: Negative developments are gradual and faults are usually caused by incidents further in the past. To find the cause as quickly as possible in such cases, Weber has integrated a further digital solution called VideoAssist at Westfleisch.
Regardless of how obvious the advantages of digitization and fully automatic condition monitoring are without a doubt: When it comes to implementation, Westfleisch also has a healthy skepticism regarding how much software a line can tolerate without the increasing digitization becoming an end in itself. “Overall, we are still at the beginning, and I am personally curious to see what will help us best to become more sustainable and better in the long term.” Dennis Kasek also expects more acceptance due to the fact that the digital Weber solutions not only analyze systems and modules from Weber’s own production. Modules from other manufacturers can also be integrated easily and seamlessly. This openness means that operating personnel have to learn considerably less software and read fewer program manuals. A cockpit as a command center: This continuity prevents production managers from having to chase after data or continuously change programs. Thanks to the Weber Digital Factory Solutions, all it takes now is one glance and all the desired information is available. In any case, Jan Engelhardt is convinced that success will start to come at the latest when the skepticism has been overcome, more and more actual values are determined from the Weber FactoryCockpit and condensed into key figures. According to Engelhardt, Westfleisch is well on their way to achieving this at the Oer-Erkenschwick site.
