The two teams were able to find a variety of optimization opportunities across the value chain, which, once implemented, resulted in higher process stability and improved plant performance. “Our core competence at Bühler is the conversion of raw materials into end products, which gives us a broad range of expertise,” says Christian Salvatori, Sales Manager at Bühler, who led the service project from the Bühler side. With Bühler acting as a partner at Kägi’s side, the implementation of the action plan started, and further projects emerged.
The workshop revealed that the occasional fluctuations in quality stemmed from the fact that decisions in production were often made based on experience and intuition. “We set ourselves the goal of being able to make such important decisions in the production process increasingly on the basis of figures, data, and facts,” says Grin. “That’s why we decided on a new strategy: the journey to Smart Factory 2024, in which the entire machine park is digitally networked and all process data is visualized.”
To implement this vision, Kägi is now using the Bühler Insights digital platform. “Connecting Kägi to our Bühler Insights platform creates unique transparency on process and machine data. From raw materials, to baking and filling of wafer sheets, and to chocolate coating, data can now be recorded, analyzed, and interpreted at any time,” says Judith Spreitzer, Project Manager Bühler Services. In each machine an average of 25 to 30 data points are connected to Bühler Insights. “The fact that Kägi also has machines in operation that are not from Bühler did not pose a problem for us either in our assessment or in visualizing the entire process data with Bühler Insights. This enables Kägi to obtain a holistic picture of current production and product quality at any time and from any location.”