By digitally replicating real-life facilities, processes and products, digital twins allow confectionery manufacturers to address some of their most pressing challenges. Suzanne Callander reports.
Despite being a fairly young concept, digital twin technology is rapidly becoming a valuable solution for the operational efficiency of businesses. Put simply, a digital twin is a digital copy of an entity that exists in the physical world. This can be factory, a production line, a machine or even a confectionery product.
Digital twins can be traced back to the 1970s when NASA applied a similar technology – a twin of the command module and electrical system – on the Apollo 13 space mission. Ever since this first application, the technology has been evolving, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that the term digital twin was first coined.
“When mapping the real world into a digital twin, the technology uses real-time information to replicate not only the physical object but also the inherent processes, providing a tool that is able to detect and solve issues, improve business processes, and boost overall performance,” explains a MentorMate spokesperson.
Confectionery manufacturing, like every other industry segment, has its own set of specific challenges to tackle and digital twins are now able to provide a solution to a large number of these challenges.
In the confectionery manufacturing sector there are two typical digital twin scenarios, according to MentorMate. On the one hand, if you are running a legacy facility, implementing digital twin technology can help modernise and optimise processes. On the other hand, if you are building a new plant, it is possible to create a digital representation of it before construction begins. By introducing a digital twin into a project it is possible to gain valuable insights that can guide the project. It can provide a tool to approve layout design, enhance footprints, assess inventory size, and estimate spatial parameters for plant assets.
In either scenario, there can be manifold benefits of a digital twin for confectionery production. According to MentorMate, these benefits include:
Higher product quality: There’s hardly any aspect of the confectionery manufacturing business more significant than the quality of the end product. If a confectionery producer encounters a quality issue in its production process it needs to be able to identify the reason behind it and take steps to eliminate it. A digital twin can provide real-time data about production conditions and can point out problems as they are happening, allowing issues to be quickly rectified. This approach can save entire batches from being scrapped and will help ensure more consistent product quality.
Better food safety and traceability: Food safety is of paramount importance for confectionery manufacturers, and this puts regulations front and centre in the manufacturing process. Digital twins can be employed as a control and monitoring solution to address regulatory issues. A digital twin should contain the production data relating to every step in a production line which provides end-to-end traceability. Teams can use this data to make sure that the whole process is being executed according to compliance requirements.
Higher operational efficiency: Digital twin technology unlocks value in another important way. It can help ensure operational efficiency. Digital twins can forecast bottlenecks on a production line, inventory buffers, and material travel times by simulating real-time production bottlenecks. The real-time communication between physical systems and a digital counterpart not only identifies blockages but also makes it easier to find solutions and make good decisions.
Meeting consumer demands: In a segment where the satisfaction of consumers is a primary business goal, staying flexible is important. Digital twin technology has much to offer here, because it can carry all the information about a product, which allows modifications to be made to existing products or for new products to be developed in the safety of a digital environment. Only once the ideas have been validated with a digital twin do changes to the physical product line need to be made.
Digital consumers: Digital twins of consumers can offer an opportunity to meet fast-changing consumer demands. It is possible to simulate a real-world consumer or a consumer group’s behaviour and create a dynamic digital replica of the consumer experience. Drawing on real-time consumer data from CRM systems, shopping cart analysis, market research, and other sources, digital twins can help an organisation fine-tune the consumer journey, predict potential issues and avoid them. It allows confectionery manufacturers to build a personalised marketing strategy, and boost consumer satisfaction.
Getting it right
MentorMate went on to point out that ether can also some drawbacks to the use of digital twins. Developing and deploying digital twins is a long, complex, and costly process. It requires large investments in software and hardware, as well as expertise. Often, companies are inspired by the potential of the technology and are tempted to implement a digital twin of an end-to-end process. However, a better approach would be to start with a small-scale pilot project.
Additionally, digital twin technology can also suffer from data-related issues. To work properly, digital twins need high-quality data, and their operations will deteriorate due to a lack of data or the use of poor-quality data.
Despite being a powerful tool for gaining knowledge and visibility into the production process, digital twins remain just that – a tool – that can assist teams to examine, test, and optimise their products and processes in a digital environment. However, the final decision-making should remain with the human.
Reimagined packaging
Encouraged by the successful implementation of digital twins in other manufacturing sectors, confectionery producers are now looking at adopting the technology. Mars, for example, collaborated with software company, Ansys, to help it use simulation to reimagine its packaging process using digital technology. Using software it was able to perform virtual testing and prototyping on new packaging across its snacking portfolio. This minimised the need for extensive physical testing during the packaging development process and provided useful insights into various aspects of the production phases, including wrapping, drop tests and failure scenarios.
Following initial use of the software researchers at Mars reported a reduction in development times of up to 40% through the use of computer modelling and reductions in the quantity of plastic purchased for testing of approximately 246 tons.
The use of the technology proved to be an important element of the organisation’s ‘Sustainable in a Generation’ plan which demands the use of breakthrough science, innovative thinking and partnerships to push the boundaries of what is possible. “We continue to see the impact and potential of simulation and digital engineering in progressing sustainability initiatives throughout the world,” says Walt Hearn, Senior Vice President of worldwide sales and customer excellence at Ansys. “Mars was able to successfully implement the insights of Ansys simulation to help optimise its design and packaging processes.”
What to automate?
Aldomak is a family run confectionery business based in Scotland, producing Scottish tablet, fudge and macaroons. To help its production facilities keep up with its fast-growing product range, the company set out to integrate a degree of automation into its production processes to complement its essentially ‘handmade’ product range.
However, with the team at Aldomak being so focussed on fulfilling orders and handling day-to-day production issues, there was little opportunity for the team to assess the potential impact of changes or enhancements to its manufacturing processes.
Happily, it found a solution when it engaged with the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland (NMIS) which helped it gain a Research & Technology Organisations (RTOs) grant through Innovate UK,. With the help of NMIS it was then possible to create a digital simulation of Aldomak’s fudge production line, using Siemens’ Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software, to support any future decision-making and investment plans.
The digital model draws on a range of data, including the capacity of the existing machinery, inventory levels, and work schedules, to help calculate the most efficient ways of working. Data was gathered using a mixture of information supplied by the business and a 3D scan of the factory using laser technology.
The digital team at NMIS was able to identify potential bottlenecks and explored various potential scenarios – such as adding new equipment and modifying workflows. Engineers were also able to examine the capacity of boiling equipment and movement of both personnel and products within the factory to establish how best to focus efforts to boost plant efficiency.
One area identified for improvements revolved about the need for heavy lifting and transporting products from one area of the factory to another. The simulation software identified that this could be reduced by 20% if boiling and mixing processes were combined into one station. Of course, this would also offer the benefit of reducing the risk of operator strains and injuries.
The simulation software also identified that an investment in boilers with a higher capacity could lead to a potential increase of 43% in throughput per shift, resulting in an extra 260kg of processed fudge, based on the modelled scenario.
The simulation gave Aldomak food for thought when it comes to the changes needed to achieve increased output and efficiency. The team was encouraged to think differently, focus on bottlenecks, and explore various ways to increase throughput before considering any major investments.
Commenting on the project, Dario Riccomini, Managing Director at Aldomak, says: “While our focus is still on our products being handmade, we see great opportunities to use new technology to change the way we work. In recent years our output volumes and revenue have grown, but we are always keen to explore new systems and processes that can aid further expansion. By combining small improvements and targeting our investments, we could significantly increase our manufacturing capacity, which may lead to new commercial contracts and wholesale orders.
“The project with NMIS was our first introduction to using manufacturing simulation and, as well as seeing the measurable benefits of the model, it highlighted the potential impact of collaborating with researchers to take the business and our products to the next level.”
Disclaimer: AI generated imagDigital twins: Simulating project success e.
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Editor: Kiran Grewal kgrewal@kennedys.co.uk
