Product Traceability at F&N Dairies with a litle help from Process Nexus II and Wonderware

Before the implementation of Process Nexus II, operators had to log in plant data in the paper operations sheets while operating the plant

When quality parameter deviations are detected, the operators have to manually trace the information in the paper operations sheets in the archive room and it took a very long time to trace root cause.

“After the Nexus II implementation, it is very convenient to summarize and consolidate the plant data. We are able to collect product traceability both upstream and downstream of our process in real time."

Sitthichai Sribunyapirat
LM Production Manager
F&N Dairies Thailand

More information

For more information on the topics and products that are involved in this post, please click on the links below:

1. F&N Dairies Thailand
2. Wonderware Supervisory Control
3. Wonderware Manufacturing Operations Management
4. Wonderware Production Information Management

ROI within 1 year using Process Nexus II at F&N Dairies Thailand

 

Process Nexus II is also responsible for Product Inventory Control

Normally after production is completed, the finished products are typically stored in a warehouse. After Process Nexus II, products are dispatched early and sent straight to the container vans, ready for transfer to the ports for distribution.

"With this system, we reduce inventory in our warehouses, create cost savings and we can get payback from our system investment within one year”

Somchai Khwahan
FP Production Manager
F&N Dairies Thailand

More information

For more information on the topics and products that are involved in this post, please click on the links below:

1. F&N Dairies Thailand
2. Wonderware Supervisory Control
3. Wonderware Manufacturing Operations Management
4. Wonderware Production Information Management

Net Content Control at F&N Dairies

One of the functions of Process Nexus II at F&N Dairies Thailand is to take care of Net Content Control, a very important metric that measures product net weight and product loss.

“Imagine you manufacture 3 million cans per day – how do you ensure its net weight control? We use Process Nexus II to capture this information.”

Somchai Khwahan
FP Production Manager
F&N Dairies Thailand

The captured net weight is plotted to show its trend. From there, the operators at F&N Dairies are able to calculate overfill in real time and are able to react immediately and minimize loss.

More information

For more information on the topics and products that are involved in this post, please click on the links below:

1. F&N Dairies Thailand
2. Wonderware Supervisory Control
3. Wonderware Manufacturing Operations Management
4. Wonderware Production Information Management

F&N Dairies Thailand and Process Nexus II

One of the solutions developed at F&N Dairies Thailand is called Process Nexus II.

“Process Nexus II is our own software development system. It is a process and quality data acquisition system so online data is captured and made ready for the user to review and release online.”

Roongroj Roongruang
Factory Engineering Manager
F&N Dairies Thailand

More information

For more information on the topics and products that are involved in this post, please click on the links below:

1. F&N Dairies Thailand
2. Wonderware Supervisory Control
3. Wonderware Manufacturing Operations Management
4. Wonderware Production Information Management

I'll have a lot more details in the coming days. Stay tuned.

Best in Class at F&N Foods Thailand

F&N Dairies has set very high standards on its food safety, production efficiency and energy usage goals.

The plant adheres to very strict quality control measures at every step of the manufacturing process and the Rojana Plant relies on the latest manufacturing technologies and solutions to meet these goals and measures.

F&N Dairies Thailand is the biggest canned milk factory in the world

F&N Dairies Thailand is the biggest canned milk factory in the world. Its leading brands are Carnation, Teapot and Bearbrand.

The F&N Dairies Thailand Rojana Plant is in Ayutthaya

The Rojana Plant of F&N Dairies Thailand is located in the ancient Thai capital city of Ayutthaya, 70 kilometers north of Bangkok.

A 130 year history at F&N

Fraser and Neave, Limited  or "F&N"  was founded in Southeast Asia by two visionary Scotsmen, John Fraser and David Neave, in 1883. Over the years, it would become one of the food and beverage giants in the region.

We will be featuring the Wonderware MES solution that F&N adopted in its dairy plant in Thailand. Stay tuned.

24 million cases of milk products at F&N

The F&N Dairies Rojana Plant is fairly new. It was inaugurated by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand.

The plant sits in 9.6 hectars of land. It produces 24 million cases a year - the largest of its kind in the world.

Success Story B-roll in the middle of Bangkok

The things you do to create a customer success story.

It took a small village to make the F&N Dairies Success Story

It takes a small village to create a customer success story. In our shoot in Thailand, we had one sound guy, one lighting person, one camera man, a producer, three partners, five customers and a showrunner.

It went really well at F&N Dairies and I am looking forward to doing the post production work. Our customer did a good job with the Wonderware software and I want to justify their great solution with a good success story.

3 millions cans a day at F&N Dairies

 

3 Million Cans

That my friends is the daily yield of F&N Dairies in Thailand. If you have not heard of them and you're in the food and beverage/CPG industry, you should be a little bit scared.

We've just completed the filming of a success story at the F&N Dairies Rojana Plant. In the next few weeks, I'll be featuring what they've done to produce this much and how they did it.

Stay tuned.

Moon over Bangkok

There's a reason why people have been flocking to Southeast Asia for thousands of years. It's not just because of the highly mobile workforce and the reasonable cost of manufacturing products. It's just too pretty to resist.

Bangkok, getting reacquianted with the place I like but have not fully understood

I have not been back to Bangkok in over 10 years. It's a place I always love to come back to and this trip is a chance to get reacquianted with the place I like but have not fully understood. Sometimes it's best that way.

Part of creating a success story is filming B-roll of the interesting places around the city, state, country or region where the factory or facility of your customer is located. In this case, our customer is based in Thailand and so we had to film around Bangkok today.

Sometimes, it requires us to film in the middle of a large roundabout, with cars, buses and motorcycles zooming around.

But sometimes it also means filming in a riverboat that's cruising aroung the city in style.

It's been a long day, but it will be longer tomorrow when we visit our customer's plant and film the F&N Dairies success story. I'm really excited about this because it's an MES story on a Food and Beverage customer.

Watch out for it.

 

Perfection in food

Once a civilization has been able to create a dish into something that is simple, elegant, tasty and cheap, you could say that it has achieved perfection. I can say that about Singapore and its minced meat noodles.

Getting aclimatized in Southeast Asia

The best way to aclimatize once you get to humid Southeast Asia from very dry Califorinia is to just go out and spend the day active right after you arrive at 3 AM. In our case, I pushed my guys to walk around China Town.

There's no better way to spend a day in Singapore than to lose yourself in the humidity and hot weather as you walk along smelling the smells and experience how Singapore would have looked like in the 19th century.

Clark Quay and Pepper Crabs

A lot has changed in Singapore in the nine years since I've left and yet everything is still the same.

We had dinner at Clark Quay. It was great to end the day with Pepper Crabs.

 

Singapore for a day of meetings at the Schneider Electric office

We stopped over the Changi office of Schneider Electric for a meeting with colleagues. It's also an excuse to meet old friends I haven't seen since I left Singapore in 2005. It's so nice to be back home.

Come with me, I'm doing a success story in Southeast Asia

I am doing a success story in Southeast Asia and this is the first time that I am chronicling the whole trip. Come with me and share in the experience.

 This is my ride. Cool huh?

Clarifying the Use of Color in HMIs

There's this interesting article from David Greenfield that came out last Wednesday, April 9th in the Automation.Com website Clarifying the Use of Color in HMIs. 

"The bigger issue, Krajewski notes is that “overall there has been inconsistency in recommendations and a lack of clarity around how color in HMIs can be used effectively. The use of color is a small—but significant—aspect of improving HMI design. Unfortunately many other key aspects are being overlooked as people shy away due to a negative reaction to what some refer to as the ‘black-and-white TV approach in an era of ultra-high definition.’"

More information

For more information on Situational Awareness, please visit the following:

1. The Wonderware HMI and Supervisory Control Solutions page
2.  Wonderware InTouch page
3. Wonderware System Platform page

Today and Tomorrow brought to you by Invensys

Every day, Invensys impacts the lives of our customers, and our customer's consumers. Today and Tomorrow... brought to you by Invensys.

New Belgium Brewing sustainability success story video

More Information

For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Sustainable Manufacturing at New Belgium Brewing

Download the New Belgium Brewing success story on sustainable manufacturing and find out how they use Wonderware to achieve their environment and sustainability goals.

More Information

For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence at New Belgium Brewing

Download the New Belgium Brewing success story that talks about their extensive Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence and Manufacturing Execution System.

More Information

For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Why is Schneider Electric and Invensys better together for the customer?

Schneider Electric and Invensys combined means one organization with strong commitment and synergies. Bill Lydon of Automation.Com talks about this in his interesting article about Schneider Electric's integration of Invensys.

Utilities Monitoring at New Belgium Brewing

Once tracked 100% by hand, vital stats such as temperature and pressure measurements were difficult to gather, hard to support and not easily analyzed. But not anymore.

Today, New Belgium Brewery’s system employs Wonderware Historian software to collect and store real-time and historical production data. Plus Wonderware InTouch Human Machine Interface (HMI) software with its intuitive graphical interface makes running the plant easier than ever before.

Beer brewing is an energy-intensive process, and with the Wonderware solution, energy conservation has improved too. Steam, water and electricity consumption is monitored continuously. The plant’s lighting system is automated; when no one is present, light sensors automatically dim the lights or turn off unneeded banks of lights.

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More Information

For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Information Collection at New Belgium Brewing

The information collected from the Wonderware solution is used for Statistical Process Control

"The data that Wonderware generates is used by our SPC team. We probably have more than 10 greenbelts and a bunch of a six sigma black belts. We take it very seriously so just by being able to see the data and use control charts, we are capable of almost doing predictive control and seeing if we are leaning in the right direction or the wrong direction. We have to ability now to try to correct if necessary."

Igor Valuyev, Chief Electrical and Automation Engineer, New Belgium Brewing Company

More Information

For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Track and Trace at New Belgium Brewing

 

What are the benefits of the Track and Trace system to New Belgium Brewing?

"First of all we got rid of a lot of paper. So we save a lot of trees. From an admin perspective, we save a lot of time. From a people’s perspective, we save a lot of frustration. That’s the number one benefit. 

The number two benefit was that the project was a great learning experience. We learned a lot about our process, things we could have never dreamed of."

Igor Valuyev, Chief Electrical and Automation Engineer, New Belgium Brewing Company

 

More Information

For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability