AVEVA is helping the FMCG sector harness the power of technology to become more resilient, efficient and sustainable, writes Eamonn Duff.
From Nestlé and Danone to Kellogg’s and Campbell’s Soup, AVEVA has partnered with the world’s leading food and beverage manufacturers to unlock new value ‘performance intelligence’ across their business divisions.
AVEVA is a global leader in industrial software, connecting clients across 12 industrial sectors with trusted information and insights.
At its recent PI World conference, more than 1500 partners and global industry leaders gathered in Amsterdam to discuss today’s turbulent business environment and the single, top priority facing companies today.
“Speaking with the S&P 500, we learned that 92 percent of executives are totally worried about sustainability,” said AVEVA’s CEO Peter Herweck, adding: “I question what the other eight percent are worried about. It’s something on everyone’s mind.”
Also addressing the conference, AVEVA’s senior vice president of information management, Gregg Le Blanc, explained how the company’s software portfolio was helping the world operate better, faster, less expensively – and greener.
“Approximately 68 percent of currently available enterprise data goes unused because it sits in organisational silos, yet more data is being created than ever before. AVEVA software enables that data to be aggregated, transformed and shared within companies and with external partners, unlocking innovation at scale for all players within a new and connected industrial economy.”
Kellogg’s were among several big-name food brands to speak at the four day event and showcase the myriad advantages of digital manufacturing systems.
The cereal giant revealed how it had utilised the AVEVA PI system to leverage, analyse and manage energy data across its sites. Through doing so, it was able to pinpoint both major and not-so-obvious energy consumers and identify the actions required to drive key engineering and operational improvements.
As a result, Kellogg’s saved more than $3 million at one plant in a single year, and identified an additional $1.8 million in rebates and optimised abatement measures.
As Michael Dean, Kellogg’s global director – Power, Controls and Information System, explained: “Data needs to become information, we need to use that data to drive actions, to make improvements that deliver the benefits. We also need to think of digital as not just a project for today or for this year, it’s going to be with us into the future so we need that framework that allows us to build today but continue to build for the next year, two years, five years, 10 years.”
Kellogg’s have approximately 50 manufacturing sites dotted around the globe and Dean also spoke of the “noticeable difference” between those who had embraced technology and those who had not. “Plants who have digital as part of their strategy are focussed, engaged and progress faster,” he said, adding: “We need to continue the journey and show our leaders that Digital is making a difference – and is going to continue making a difference. Our plant at Kerry came up with a really nice slogan I like – and that is ‘digital is pivotal’.”
AVEVA’s Vice President of Operations Management Software, Keith Chambers, said sustainability had rapidly risen from a throw-away promotional line on packaging to the biggest issue in the boardroom.
“It [sustainability] has flipped to board level commitments, to goals they want to achieve, that’s being pushed down operationally into the business,” said Chambers.
“It’s part of the capital cycle now so it’s hard to raise money on the stock market if you don’t have strong sustainability targets in place – and there’s certain supply chains you will get excluded from…there’s certain companies, for example, who won’t buy your coffee if it’s not fair trade.”
He added: “When people choose a particular brand at a grocery store, they want it to be aligned with their values – as do the [brand’s] workers who want to feel like they are doing something more than simply earning a pay cheque.”
As companies continue to build transparency through trust, AVEVA is helping its FMCG partners achieve sustainability value in virtually everything they do.
German consumer goods giant Henkel is another to adopt AVEVA digital solutions to help accelerate sustainability across its operations. By integrating AVEVA™ System Platform , AVEVA™ Historian and AVEVA™ Manufacturing Execution System, the Laundry, Home and Beauty Care company has been monitoring and minimising its energy consumption, saving €8 million year-over-year in 2020 and working towards its target of becoming three times more energy efficient by 2030.
“When we started implementing AVEVA digital solutions in 2013, we were already achieving a three percent year-on-year energy saving on every ton of product produced. By the time we had completed the implementation, we were seeing a clear increase in energy efficiency,” said Wolfgang Weber, Corporate Director, Digital Transformation & Engineering Laundry & Home Care, Henkel.
“For example, AVEVA-based Environmental Management System (EMS) has reduced Henkel’s energy consumption (kWh/t) year-on-year by up to 16 percent in 2020 against a business-as-usual operation. To put this into perspective, the energy saved is equivalent to the capacity needed to support the three million inhabitants of two European capital cities, Amsterdam and Vienna.”
At its PI World Conference, AVEVA announced it had recently further strengthened its digital twin software with a host of new features that make visualising asset information with real-time data faster and easier than ever.
AVEVA head Peter Herweck said: “Business leaders face increased sustainability compliance requirements, retiring workforces, and the ever-present demand for efficiency, agility and resilience. Raw data in itself is not immediately useful or even understandable but when you analyse and contextualize it into insightful information, that’s when you can help the industrial world to innovate at scale on the road to a net-zero future.”
