Last Thursday , 07.10.2021, the top-class C‑level event “Digitize your Food” took place in the Swabian town of Wolfertschwenden, organized by the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance together with packaging expert MULTIVAC. The event brought 100 decision-makers together who experienced an impressive deep dive into the world of Food & Beverage industry, listened to exciting presentations and networked with each other in a professional atmosphere. A warm welcome by the host company MULTIVAC and a keynote speech by the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance were followed by expert talks, discussion rounds, and the presentation of a showcase.
Dr. Marius Grathwohl, Vice President Digital Products & Transformation at MULTIVAC, summed up the objective of the event as follows: “Industry 4.0 solutions are very complex, especially in a heterogeneous machine environment. As a founding member of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, we at MULTIVAC want to open up an interoperable ecosystem for our customers. Compatibility within, but also outside of our packaging solutions is our vision – always with the focus on customer benefits.”
KEYNOTES ON DIGITALIZATION FROM THE MACHINE BUILDER’S PERSPECTIVE
The keynotes by Dr. Marius Grathwohl and Dr. Benedikt Hofmann, CTO Voith Innovation & Technology, CEO Voith Robotics, on artificial intelligence, data-based process optimization and added value through digital products provided new ways of thinking and up-to-date insights into industrial digitalization.
Leon Jerg, Business Analytics & Digitalization at JERMI Käsewerk, spoke about the use of Smart Services as a business analytics tool in intelligently networked production and showed how it can be used to tap optimization potential in ongoing operations.
SHOWCASE: ONE LINE, THREE DIFFERENT MACHINE BUILDERS, ONE DASHBOARD
During a showcase, the participants were able to observe how different machine builders act together in an open ecosystem and generate added value for customers.
A line for packaging of minced meat was shown, which included solutions from three machine builders: a VF 848 S vacuum filler from Handtmann, a MULTIVAC TX 720 traysealer, and a CWFmaxx 3000 checkweigher from Bizerba. All relevant process parameters of the line were live displayed on a common monitoring dashboard. The line was controlled via MULTIVAC Line Control, a higher-level line control system.
TO BE CONTINUED
Ekrem Yigitdöl, who appeared for the first time in his new position as Managing Director of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, was completely satisfied with the event: “We want to further promote the exchange of ideas between our members. Direct feedback from members and customers is enormously important for the future positioning and development of the alliance in the complex field of digitalization. That’s why we are already planning similar format for 2022.”