Software to solve food and beverage’ s costly headache
Breaking bottlenecks
Software to solve food and beverage’ s costly headache
In food and beverage, the stakes are especially high— a single point of delay can undo the efficiencies achieved everywhere else. Here, Beth Ragdale, software business manager at industrial automation and control specialist Beckhoff UK, explains why tackling bottlenecks requires a rethink of traditional production lines, moving beyond purely mechanical fixes to embrace flexible, software-driven solutions.
60 FDPP- www. fdpp. co. uk
The word“ bottleneck” carries more weight in food and beverage than almost any other sector. A 2018 study by Garvey found that many companies in the sector experience as much as 500 hours of downtime every year, to the tune of $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 an hour. That’ s $ 10 to $ 15 million dollars lost to downtime a year.
This is an industry where speed is critical, hygiene is non-negotiable and the smallest of slowdowns can ripple through the production line, throwing schedules off balance and squeezing margins.
While it’ s impossible to prevent bottlenecks entirely, the real stepchange in reducing the impact of bottlenecks comes from integrating software-driven control that can adapt the line in real-time, removing the need for mechanical redesigns.