New Technology and Connectivity Software Can Aid Food Manufacturing Challenges

Manufacturing is being squeezed by labor and skills shortages. The numbers of people older than 55 in the technical workforce in the U.S. are increasing, signifying that not enough young employees are not replacing older ones. Meanwhile, technical demands for manufacturing have grown, making it difficult to hire the right workers. These companies need workers with the same skills as the workers who are currently retiring. For the most part, these are highly skilled people who have gained their expertise over 25 to 30 years.

The latest report released by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute predicts that as many as 2.1 million manufacturing jobs could be unfilled through 2030. The report warns that the worker shortage will hurt revenue and production and could ultimately cost the U.S. economy up to $1 trillion by 2030.

With these looming statistics, manufacturers face enormous pressures to stay competitive. But it’s not all doom and gloom: To combat these labor challenges, manufacturers are increasingly looking to technology and connectivity to expand productivity, decrease labor costs, increase uptime, and slash error rates.

Increased Plant Automation

Automation helps manufacturers reduce errors and costs while increasing productivity, quality, and safety standards. With the increased data coming from the production line, it’s now much easier to determine ways to improve efficiency and productivity and reduce error rates. Through an increased use of sensors and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), machines can talk to each other and seamlessly react to any problems that arise. If a machine spots an issue, it can quickly alert other machines and employees, allowing the issue to be addressed in real time.

Using smart machines that can communicate with each other means that full traceability and transparency are possible across the entire food manufacturing value chain. That capability, in turn, reinforces food safety and helps a business meet regulatory needs in the most efficient manner.

Sensors and SCADA

Adding technology such as sensors that monitor whether a machine is working properly instead of having someone check out a problem is an ideal solution for areas with worker shortages.

Sensors pick up on performance aberrations that simply can’t be detected through manual spot checks and personnel monitoring. By detecting the underpinnings of potential issues in real time, sensors can alert maintenance teams of the need to investigate and prevent a machine failure before it happens.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is a system of hardware and software elements used to control processes both locally and remotely. Such systems are crucial for organizations as they help maintain efficiency, process data for more well-informed decisions and communicate system issues to help mitigate loss and downtime. SCADA systems perform data acquisition and communication, information and data presentation, and monitoring and control.

These functions are performed by sensors, controllers, and a communication network. The sensors collect and send the information to the controller, which displays the status of the system. The operator can then give commands to the components of the system, depending on the status. SCADA systems allow communication between the operator and the connected devices. Real-time systems have thousands of components and sensors; each gathers data and helps ensure that every part of a facility is running effectively. The real-time applications can also be controlled remotely. Access to real-time information allows entities to make data-driven decisions about how to improve processes. Without SCADA, it would be difficult to gather sufficient data for consistently well-informed decisions.

Remote Monitoring

Another way to reduce unplanned downtime is with remote alarm notification software, which allows fewer employees to monitor many more assets using devices that people already have, such as smartphones and tablets. Uninterrupted remote availability is essential to ensuring systems can be continuously monitored, even without staff onsite or with fewer people working at the facility.