Beverage Industry

Manufacturers want to have a positive impact on society and the environment. In addition, they want to turn sustainability challenges into business advantages. At the heart of a well-planned sustainability program is the belief that corporate investment in environmental and social responsibility must strengthen business performance to be successful. It must reduce environmental impact, achieve genuine economy in the use of resources, deliver a return on investment, and enhance the equity of your company.
Through automation, three major sustainability objectives can be addressed:
• Energy conservation and efficiency
• Environmental responsibility and resource management
• Safety for workers, machinery, processes and products

Customer loyalty is key to the success of your business, and maintaining customer loyalty is achieved through consistently manufacturing high-quality products, batch after batch. In doing so you add value to your brand. Therefore, protecting your brand equity is the core to financial strength, whether you are providing a local product, a high-value import, or a global mega-brand.

Producing quality goods at the lowest possible cost is a major concern. Manufacturers are responding by identifying opportunities to improve production efficiency by using information systems that monitor operations and provide the capability to analyze results and determine the root cause of problems. The performance of assets is being improved as maintenance regimes are stepped up with improved support and better management of spare parts. And, you are reducing utility costs by installing information systems to monitor utility usage and identify opportunities to reduce costs.

We live in a mass-customized society – one where consumers want it their way, with the quality and cost levels that they have come to expect. This creates significant pressure on food and beverage manufacturers who have the difficult task of meeting the ongoing evolution of consumer demand. Today's consumers run the gamut – from those who want healthier choices to others who want more convenient packaging and unique flavors. This increased volume and diversity of products is causing plants to design their lines based on shorter production runs with more changeovers. Meeting these demands requires operational flexibility. You must be able to easily add new products to the mix, change recipes on the fly and quickly implement new operational procedures. In addition, you must execute these changeovers while meeting high sanitation and environmental requirements. All of this has to be done smoothly to reduce time-to-market and limit the impact on operations.

While speed and flexibility are crucial, plants must also take the steps needed to ensure the highest quality possible. The key to maintaining brand equity, which is paramount in this industry, is product consistency — not only batch-to-batch, but facility-to-facility. To meet these consistency requirements, companies need advanced automation and information technology. This technology will help ensure that each batch and each operation is performed the same as the previous one, while simultaneously allowing operators to compensate for process changes and raw material variability that can impact the finished product.

As concerns over food safety and transparency continue to grow in the minds of consumers, you are required to improve the processes you have in place that monitor quality and track material through the facility. At each critical control point of the production process, systems are being installed to monitor operations in order to verify that operations have been properly executed. Systems are being implemented to track all raw and in-process material through the entire facility to meet regulations and provide information if a product recall is required.

To address your daily challenges, you need to implement automation and information technology to maintain product consistency and improve manufacturing flexibility and agility. However, that alone isn't enough. Today's truly successful manufacturers understand the value in integrating the factory from beginning to end, bridging islands of automation and carrying data throughout the plant to provide information for improving operations and reducing costs. The solution lies in an integrated information and control architecture offered by C&M. It provides a foundation that enables flexible and agile manufacturing, while simplifying the exchange of real-time data between plant floor processes and information systems. Unlike traditional architectures, the Integrated Architecture from C&M reduces the total cost of ownership by using a single automation infrastructure for the entire range of manufacturing applications.

Distribution is another key challenge. Many plants have evolved from make-to-stock operations to a demand driven model where the completed product is shipped directly to retail outlets. Products no longer sit in a distribution center after production. Each order passing through the plant is for a specific customer, and has a defined delivery date. This means you must manage operations to ensure that production orders are scheduled and executed on time, and delivery requirements are consistently met.

Integrated Architecture from C&M uses sophisticated control, networking, and visualization technologies that help increase your productivity and reduce your total cost to produce your product. It allows

you to install a single automation layer across the entire plant. This layer supports the needs of the batch operations (mixing, blending, mashing, fermenting, etc.); continuous operations (baking, cooking, forming and pasteurization); and discrete control in the packaging area, including machine control and motion. Integrated Architecture not only provides an information-enabled automation platform, but also provides the

connectivity and control for all operations. This includes field instrumentation, pump systems, conveyor systems, steam and heating operations, valve control and process monitoring. It provides a single interface for programming changes and helps bridge the gap between the enterprise level and the plant floor by unleashing the relevant real-time information and exposing it to the people and systems that need it.

C&M, the leading supplier of automation and information solutions to the food and beverage industry, has helped thousands of manufacturers meet challenges and gain a competitive advantage through better control of the factory floor and better integration of manufacturing information. As a comprehensive local service and support organization, we work with you to identify issues, perform evaluations and provide recommendations and project plans to give you an inclusive plan for success.