Food & Beverage

Change comes to the Food & Beverage Industry

Manufacturers across the Food & Beverage sector increasingly turn to optimization in response to competition and the rising costs of production inputs. Whether accelerating the rise time of a key Temperature process without Overshoot or limiting variability within a critical Flow application as it responds to changing feed stocks, improved regulatory control enhances the use of those costly inputs and increases a manufacturer’s overall production yield. Those benefits apply equally to manufacturers of commodity food stuffs as well as to producers of specialty branded goods.

When equipped with appropriate technologies for monitoring, analyzing and optimizing PID-based regulatory control systems, food producers are able to improve the consistency of their day-to-day operations and to fight back against rising costs and competition.

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Our Experience

Control Station is fortunate to support leading and global manufacturers from across the Food & Beverage sector.  Those same customers have facilitated advances to both our award-winning technologies and our interactive training workshops.  Our value as a supplier to the industry is based on a broad understanding of the process dynamics which are common to food production as well as on deep domain knowledge of PID-based regulatory control.  Following are specific areas where Control Station can contribute to improve plant performance.

 
 

When process dynamics evolve slowly it can be difficult to know when those changes begin to undermine performance.  With its ability to proactively identify and isolate mechanical, interaction and tuning issues, PlantESP equips production staff with valuable details along with the advance warning they need to maintain optimal control.

Controller tuning software has a long history of under-performing in the Food & Beverage sector.  LOOP-PRO is different.  It is industrial-grade technology that’s unique in its ability to address both long Dead-Time and highly oscillatory process dynamics.  It makes the tuning process faster and more consistent which are keys to success for any food producer.

PID controller tuning has been proven to improve plant performance, but for many in the Food & Beverage industry control loop tuning is a manual effort with hit-or-miss results.  We’re experts in PID control and developed a curriculum specifically for food manufacturers.  We can teach you a simple, repeatable method for optimizing loop performance.

Process Considerations

The dynamics of temperature present unique control challenges due largely to the associated Dead-Time. The tendency of temperature to drift combined with the delay that’s involved with returning it to Set Point often results in oscillations. Without effective control that behavior can undermine production.

Precise and accurate control of Filler Level is especially critical to the bottling of carbonated beverages. Producers know that level when too high risk explosion and that level when too low results in dissatisfied consumers. Achieving the right balance with consistency is essential to maximizing output and minimizing waste.

Controller settings applied during normal operation can vary dramatically from those used during CIP. The dynamics of CIP liquid flows are typically quite different. What’s more, the associated cleaning solution must remain in direct contact with piping and vessel walls for a specified period of time which can present challenges for PID.

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Still looking for more?

Now that you’ve gotten the basics, connect with our team to learn how our people, processes and technologies can help you optimize.