Snack Line Simulation – Matching Continuous and Batching Operations

One of IPACT’s customers had a serious problem in their snack line operation.  The line consisted of a continuous infeed of product centers, which were then coated in a batch operation, and polished in a separate batch operation.  There were storage conveyors both bringing centers into the coating area, and holding/transporting coated centers to the polishing area.  These storage conveyors were a major headache for the customer.  They generated unacceptable amounts of scrap due to overfilling, and additional operators were required on every production shift just to help manage product flow in and out of the storage conveyors.

IPACT put together a high-speed simulation of the line, complete with visualization of the entire process, and detailed visualization that focused on the storage conveyors.  The simulation tracked batch cycles, idle times, scrap amounts, etc. and wrote them to a database for analysis.  Then, approximately 10 different strategies for management of product flow throughout the line were tested in simulation.  This resulted in identifying the best strategy, which IPACT then implemented in their line automation.  The net result was less scrap and much smoother automatic operation, enabling the customer to reduce staffing on the line to its intended level.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies