< Previous30 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION © stock.adobe.com/tieroFood & Drink International 31 www.fdiforum.net WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION Making the most of a warehouse Making the most of a warehouse With limited warehousing space available, distribution companies are having to optimise what they already have. W arehouse optimisation has become increasingly important as of late due to a lack of quality warehouse space combined with markets becoming increasingly more focused on their supply chains and food scarcity. This has made the distribution game difficult, and competition high to have the most streamlined and efficient system possible. Following that with fuel shortages and increased costs of living and transport, not to mention geopolitical events and the dangers of sea shipping now, and the situation has only gotten worse – forcing food and drink companies to make the most out of the limited resources they have. Traditionally speaking, there are seen to be five methods to optimise warehouse space. These are catch-all methods, and won’t all be relevant to every company, but 32 Á32 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION understanding the principles can help to identify areas for improvement. It’s rare to start at the end of such lists, but sometimes the final point is a little vague to intentionally catch the rest, so it’s worth considering it first. That being the issue of redundant processes. Obviously, as technology expands and warehouses change, being able to spot processes or practices that are inefficient or no longer needed, and removing them, can help to free up budget. This should always be considered first but is usually also the first thing to be noticed, so isn’t worth talking about too much. The other four are much more important. The first is space utilisation. This encompasses all methods by which space can be used more effectively, which includes things like investing in more rigid racking systems to allow for vertical storage, or even adding mezzanines for second floors. It also highlights the importance of aisle width, as even a few inches saved by tightening aisles could create an additional aisle when adopted across an entire warehouse. Of course, space needs to run hand in hand with safety, as it’s easy to prioritise too much and make aisles too thin, or stacks too high, and place workers at risk, or just make it much too inconvenient to reach goods, and thus cause delays. The second point to consider is inventory location – how easy is it to find where a needed good or pallet is kept, and how visible is it at a glance? Automated systems and software can help here and should be employed at every stage to ensure that when a vehicle arrives, staff know exactly where the products they’re looking for are stored and, ideally, the most efficient way to get them to the vehicle in the shortest amount of time. Tying onto inventory location is inventory accuracy, which remains one of the most problematic issues in many warehouses. It’s not unusual to have cases where a system tells you where products should be, only to find they are not there. Usually, it’s not the system at fault but user error – either in inputs into the system, or with people misusing or skipping the system entirely and storing goods somewhere else. No software system will fix a warehouse if employees are making mistakes, and if goods are not where the system says they should be. Increased training in how to handle new software is important here, as most of these mistakes tend to occur in the weeks and months after a new system is Food & Drink International 33 www.fdiforum.net WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION © stock.adobe.com/hacohob introduced. Other times, however, it can be when existing staff do not see the need to change the way they do things, and thus ignore or resist changes put on them by warehouse managers. The final point, and one that can often be most expensive, is that of picking optimisation. Accurately knowing where products are, and how to get there, is no good if the efficiency at which they are collected and brought for distribution is at fault. Picking can be optimised with automated systems and expensive new forklifts in a pinch, but it can also sometimes be streamlined with consultation, planning and changed routes – which can be much more affordable than a complete hardware overhaul. As always, the long vs the short term does need to be kept in mind, as increased automation does tend to save money over time. © stock.adobe.com/panuwat34 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net FLOW MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL control Measured Food & Drink International 35 www.fdiforum.net FLOW MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL A s with any other equipment that comes into contact with food and drink products, it’s important to consider how flow meters can affect taste quality. An issue which should be of particular concern to products with a mild flavour or those with none at all – such as bottled water. For such products, it is strongly advised to use non-metallic wetted components which won’t affect the taste of foods or beverages. There’s more than flavour at stake, however, with subpar meters potentially rendering a product unfit for human consumption. Avoiding such outcomes can be significantly diminished by selecting flow meters made with anti- corrosion and anti-rust materials as standard. Typically, meters are made from a shell of stainless steel with movement parts incorporating special food grade materials with optimised design. Whatever the application, the importance of health and safety can’t be overstated and so to avoid contamination, inline devices must be hermetically sealed. Moving parts, meanwhile, must be structurally sound and clean of lubricants. Moreover, meters should be easy to clean when pipes are flushed between batches. Of course, clamp on meters preclude many of these issues by attaching to the outside of the pipe rather than being attached to or inserted inside, but often this comes with a decrease in accuracy. Ensuring products aren’t tainted remains as crucial during manufacturing as later down the supply chain, with flow meters indispensable during bottling, cartoning, canning and the jarring of food and drink products, delivering the exact amount of product every time. A product that is even marginally under or over the weight specified on its label is enough to prompt a recall which can be costly even under the best of circumstances. Never mind the potential reputational damage. There are many different flow meters on the Flow measurement is critical right across the food and drink supply chain, fulfilling applications from aeration of food and measuring ingredient quantities, to carbonating and packaging. © stock.adobe.com/279photo 36 Á © stock.adobe.com/navintar36 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net FLOW MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL market designed to meet specific industry needs, so finding the right one is critical if not always easy. Therefore, it’s important to understand the advantages and drawbacks of each type so it can meet a manufacturer’s specific requirements. One of the most commonly used flow meters are electromagnetic. These volumetric meters contain no moving parts and are ideally suited where low pressure drop and low maintenance are required. They work by using Faraday’s Law which states that voltage induced across any conductor as it moves at right angles through a magnetic field is proportional to the velocity of that conductor. It’s worth pointing out that these meters only work for liquids and slurries that conduct electricity. Electromagnetic meters have been used in various industries for more than sixty years and it’s easy to see why they remain a mainstay, especially in the processing of wastewater and for various applications in food production. The measuring principle is virtually independent of pressure, density, temperature, and viscosity, providing a simple and efficient solution. Part of its popularity is down to its versatility, as it can meter liquids as well as those with entrained solids such as slurry and pulp. Ranging from basic applications to high demand, there’s an electromagnetic flow meter suited from small batch producers to major manufacturers with multiple production lines. And with no moving parts, they’re also maintenance free, reducing downtime. It will still need to be cleaned to reduce the risk of contaminating through product, however. Ultrasonic flow meters offer a non- invasive solution which come in two types – transit time and doppler. Whichever is required, both feature clamp on designs that can detect in-situ flow rates from outside of the pipework without needing to interrupt flow or process. As they can be easily integrated into a product line there’s no downtime or disruption, making them a popular choice among manufacturers. There are, of course, inline ultrasonic meters which are fixed in place and incorporated into the production line. These will need to be installed and require a larger investment, but the bonus is that they offer greater accuracy. These meters work by using soundwaves to determine velocity of a fluid in a pipe offering a high degree of accuracy all round as well as being able to handle extreme temperatures. But they do have several drawbacks, namely the high price tag. Because of the way in which these meters function, they are sensitive to stray process vibrations which can result in inaccuracies in the reading. As they use ultrasonic waves, they are limited to what they can meter as materials such as slurries are denser than liquids and so ultrasonic waves cannot easily pass through them or, in some cases, cannot pass through at all. Whereas electromagnetic flow meters are ideally suited to low flow, turbine meters are purposefully designed for higher flow metering. They contain bladed rotors positioned along the centreline of the flow stream. The rotating component produces a pulse when passing either a magnetic or optical sensor, a frequency that is proportional to velocity of fluid. The biggest advantage here is the high degree of accuracy, the millisecond response time and, as already stated, the high-pressure capabilities. But moving parts can become worn and clogged requiring maintenance, repairs or even replacements. Flow meters are vital in the food and drink industry, performing a myriad of applications. Finding the right one for the task is therefore a must. Fortunately, there are expert suppliers out there enabling you to make informed and savvy purchases. Food & Drink International 37 www.fdiforum.net FLOW MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL © stock.adobe.com/Aleksandr Matveev38 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net PROCESS, CONTROL AND AUTOMATION I t should go without saying that replacing old and outdated machinery will not only boost a company’s efficiency and output but will also reduce carbon emissions, but too many producers still rely on old machinery rather than investing in new or refurbished replacements. This same point that we have seen time and time again in automation is holding true to the adoption of new technology including AI in food manufacturing. It goes without saying that AI is a disruptive and often-worrying force, but too many people compare the bumbling AI used by consumers online to flood the world with poorly rendered images in a bid for misinformation. AI used on an industrial scale is much more nuanced and used for a narrow set of purposes. Already, AI is being used in the pharmaceutical industry to identify protein strains in testing of hundreds or thousands of slides, and this could be adapted to food and drink for jobs such as quality control or vision inspection. These could help spot imperfections and mistakes in packaging, food contents, or even identify contaminants, and the jobs are already being carried out by machines so the argument that “AI might be dangerous” seems a little backwards. An AI is a computer, and computers are already doing the job. In truth, the slow adoption of AI seems to come more down to cost and risk factor, not necessarily that the AI will do something wrong or take over a factory, but the simple risk that it might not save as much money as hoped and therefore not earn a quick ROI. It’s a false economy and counterintuitive besides, yet worryingly commonplace. A McKinsey report found that the average food processing plant, for instance, is more than two decades old. With the continuing market proliferation of smart technologies (more on that later), companies risk making themselves obsolete. Investing in machinery and equipment that can deliver cost savings will, of course, be a motivation alongside efficiency gains, but part of the criteria also needs to be environmental impact. As well as the specific machinery that’s used, there’s also the way in which they’re used that needs to be Adapt now or be left behind New machinery, robotics and AI stand poised to be the beginning of a new era of food manufacturing, and yet some companies are hesitant to adapt. 40 ÁFood & Drink International 39 www.fdiforum.net PROCESS, CONTROL AND AUTOMATION © stock.adobe.com/BMMP StudioNext >