Processing efficiency can fluctuate from day to day in older food production plants. For manufacturers, finding the root cause of such efficiency variations and correcting them is a frequent issue.

This is where Finemeca comes in. Along with partner Anima Consulting, the Belgian industry 4.0 specialist is developing an affordable plug-in solution to turn older machinery into connected machinery – and overcome the efficiency challenge.

The solution will draw on strategically placed sensors that will send production line data to cloud storage via a wireless network. Users can then use the data to visualise plant performance and track down the source when a production problem occurs.

By applying IoT technology to existing machinery, the partners aim to improve overall equipment effectiveness. The next step will be to integrate more algorithms for predictive machine maintenance as well.

Final report summary

The prototype is complete and working. In the months ahead, Finemeca will start commercialising the LoRa IoT devices.

The key features are:

• Installation of IoT sensors along the production line to monitor machines, packaging, etc — and overall efficiency
• Our solution plugs into the plant environment without pre-requirements or interruptions.
• We use the latest IoT network protocols, such as LoRa, to cover a large area without a single cable. All the data is transmitted via MQTT to cloud servers