F&N Dairies Thailand - a Wonderware MES Success Story

F&N Dairies Thailand, the largest canned milk manufacturer in the world, achieves significant savings in production, logistics and inventory costs with Wonderware MES software.

F&N Dairies Thailand manufactures 2,500 cans a minute = 3 million cans a day = 24 million cases a year

F&N Dairies Thailand, the largest canned milk manufacturer in the world, achieves significant savings in production, logistics and inventory costs with Wonderware MES software

Results:

• The plant achieved its production goal of 2,500 cans a minute = 3 million cans a day = 24 million cases a year

• It reduced quality traceability time from 4 hours to only 1 minute

• The manufacturing facility achieved its return on investment within one year

• The plant achieved “100% First-Time Quality,” a lean metric that indicates what parts are manufactured correctly the first time without need for inspection, rework or replacement.

The plant achieved its production goal of 2,500 cans a minute = 3 million cans a day = 24 million cases a year

Process Nexus II with a little help from Wonderware

With Process Nexus II, the Rojana Plant of F&N Dairies Thailand enjoys significant savings in production, logistics and inventory costs. It is well placed to meet the needs of its business goals now and in the future

With a little help from Wonderware.

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

Wonderware Ecosystem Partner Sagitate and F&N Dairies Thailand

“Sagitate has experience in CPG and F&B projects for more than 16 years and we have provided InBatch, QI Analyst and Performance software to our customers in over 50 plants in Thailand.”

Paruhut Chanpahol
Sales Manager
Sagitate (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

The trust of F&N Dairies in the capability of Wonderware Ecosystem Partner Sagitate is evident in its long and deep collaboration.

“Sagitate and F&N have passed major situations together. We built the Rojana factory together and also recovered it from the flooding crisis together. They provide us full support at all times that we request it. For us, Sagitate is not just a supplier. They are our friends.”

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

Wonderware Services and Partner Collaboration at F&N Dairies Thailand

It took a small village of engineers to create an elegant solution for F&N Dairies Thailand and this is where Wonderware's Services and Partner Collaboration team came in handy.

Wonderware maintains a seasoned team of consultants, architects, project managers, engineers and System Integrator partners that are uniquely qualified to provide design engineering and product specialist services that address all aspects of supervisory control, operations and asset management services.

For the F&N Dairies Process Nexus II project, it was Wonderware Ecosystem Partner Sagitate who was invloved in the creation of the MES solution but with initial assistance coming from the engineers of Wonderware Asia-Pacific. More on this in my next blog post.

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

Why did F&N Dairies Thailand choose Wonderware?

F&N Dairies Thailand gave two main reasons why they chose Wonderware software as the base for Process Nexus II.

"The first one is that the Wonderware products have the connectivity capability to connect among the industrial automation devices, computers and laboratory measuring instruments.

The 2nd reason is about the lower total cost of ownership of the Wonderware software.

"When we consider the Wonderware products and when we compare it with other software applications, the total cost of ownership is comparatively lower than the others”

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

The Process Nexus II at F&N Dairies was created with Wonderware software

The Process Nexus II solution at F&N Dairies was created with the help of Wonderware software.

“We offered the Wonderware InTouch, Wonderware MES, Wonderware System Platform, Wonderware Historian, QI Analyst software to the Nexus II project according to their functional requirements, such as Quality, Track and Traceability.”

Paruhut Chanpahol
Sales Manager
Sagitate (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

 

 

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

Process Nexus II gives F&N Dairies 100% FTQ

Process Nexus II is basically an online tracking program that helps F&N Dairies Thailand monitor all the parameters in the manufacturing process. It starts from raw material receiving to processing, until the products are released to the customer.

First-time Quality or FTQ is a lean metric that indicates what parts are manufactured correctly the first time without need for re-inspection, rework or replacement.

“When any parameter is out of control, we can take action immediately. So the products are high quality and high reliability as shown by the 100% First-Time Quality"

Watcharapong Boonnam
Quality Assurance Manager
F&N Dairies Thailand

The fact that F&N Dairies gets 100% FTQ says a lot about the skill of its personnel and how effective Process Nexus II is to manufacturing.

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

Traceability from 4 hours to 1 minute at F&N Dairies

Quality Traceability is a very big concern at F&N Dairies because Thai law dictates that the plant must be able to store and retrieve product information fast and correctly. That quality documentation must be kept until the end of the product’s shelf life, which is typically 2 years.

Traceability exercise from 4 hours to 1 minute

“Nexus II helps solve the problem by reducing quality traceability to one minute. Without Nexus II, it takes us more than four hours for one traceability exercise.”
 
Watcharapong Boonnam
Quality Assurance 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

Quality Monitoring and Reporting Challenges at F&N Dairies Thailand

Quality Monitoring and Reporting used to be a big challenge at the Rojana Plant in the beginning

“Before Nexus II, it was difficult, time consuming and it was easy to make mistakes during the review of parameters. Before Nexus II, there was a high workload in doing the QA documentation in the processing line. There were about 40 reports per day, for example: raw material receiving, processing control sheets, filling and packaging, cleaning operation control sheets.”

Watcharapong Boonnam
Quality Assurance Manager
F&N Dairies Thailand

With Process Nexus II it is now easier to manage reports and as you'll see in my next post, the results are quite impressive.

 

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

Wonderware InBatch and F&N Dairies Thailand

Process Nexus II also takes care of the batching processes of the Rojana Plant as within it is Wonderware InBatch.

“With Nexus II, we have benefitted in the control of the raw materials and we save a lot in material costs.”

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

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.