FOOD PROCESSING HITTING THE SWEET SPOT
BRITISH SUGAR
World Class Sugar Producer Creates Factory of the Future with Infor EAM
ABOUT BRITISH SUGAR
The sole processor of the UK ’ s beet sugar crop , British Sugar works in partnership with around 3000 growers to deliver a range of world-class products made to the highest standards for its customers .
With factories that were first built more than 100 years ago , British Sugar processes around eight million tonnes of sugar beet and produces around 1.2 million tonnes of sugar each year to the British and Irish markets as well as exporting to Europe and around the world .
CREATING A FACTORY FOR THE FUTURE
British Sugar has invested £ 250 million over the last five years into transforming its four sugar factories into digitally enabled manufacturing plants . Its Factories of the Future deliver over 50 % of the UK ’ s demand for sugar . In fact , it manufactures more sugar than the 18 factories operated by the company in the 1970s .
Sugar processing is complex , energyintensive and takes place across 42 weeks of the year from September , following once the sugar beet harvest from across East Anglia and the East Midlands , UK . Once harvested , crops travel to one of four sites in Bury St Edmunds , Cantley , Newark or Wissington , before being washed and processed .
The sugar beet is then sliced into thin strips called cossettes and mixed with hot water to extract the sugar , while lime solution removes any impurities , creating a syrup . The syrup is then filtered , heated , concentrated and seeded with tiny sugar crystals , which then grow into the required size prior to being washed , dried and cooled .
ASSET PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
The scale and specialist capabilities of equipment involved in this process means that effective maintenance is crucial to optimise availability throughout the Autumn / Winter processing window .
British Sugar has relied on Infor EAM for many years to support its maintenance operations , and recently embraced the benefits of multi-tenant cloud to enhance safety , reliability , productivity , efficiency and engineering productivity across the entire business .
The shift helps British Sugar move from a planned maintenance model to a predictive maintenance one , whereby monitoring takes place to identify where equipment is falling short of performing optimally , so that remedial action can be taken before it breaks . In turn this reduces downtime , maximises quality and minimises risk .
CONNECTED MAINTENANCE
In order to realise the potential of a predictive maintenance model , optimise benefits , and deliver against Industry 4.0 and IIOT principles , including sensorderived insights , connectivity across the company ’ s core systems is paramount .
Because British Sugar ’ s sites are all in rural areas , network reliability represented a barrier to achieving a truly connected enterprise as the digital enablement was deployed . In addressing this challenge , the company is installing private mobile networks in order to ensure secure , high performance , robust connectivity .
These networks are crucial as British Sugar deploys Infor Mobile , which allows Infor EAM to be used by those on the shop floor , irrespective of site or location .
66 PECM Issue 53