How to reduce pandemic risk with batch automation

Formula management and batch consistency

Manual batch systems require operators to control ingredient addition amounts by stopping a pump or closing a valve when a setpoint is reached, which means they are touching many surfaces and increasing exposure to or spreading of germs and viruses.

From a process performance standpoint, this approach introduces inconsistencies in the amount added due to subjective methods of stopping the addition, or worse yet, an operator forgetting to stop the addition altogether. This will likely result in a scrapped batch, raw material losses, lost production time and costs to dispose of the scrapped material.

Some existing batch systems may provide automated additions of individual ingredients but require the operator to enter setpoints each time a batch is run. Not only is this time-consuming and repetitive, entering these values over and over creates a significant source of operator error. The control panels used create another shared surface touched by multiple employees.

Automated batch systems control most ingredient additions and can provide increased consistency and accuracy. This improves product quality and can generate savings in raw material costs by reducing quantities of expensive minor ingredients that may have intentionally increased formula values to account for variability in additions.

Risk for operating in a pandemic environment is also reduced by providing flexibility of where recipe creation and change management is done. This allows the process to be managed away from the process area within the plant or remotely at a corporate level for multi-site corporations.

Procedural control

Manual batch systems typically have variability in the procedure used by individual operators, which can be eliminated by an automated system. Examples of this include starting, stopping and setpoints for auxiliary equipment such as mixing, recirculation, heating and cooling. These can introduce quality concerns, which can cause scrap, slow production times and customer satisfaction problems. Other factors that can be controlled to reduce product variability include the rate of material additions and the order in which ingredients are added.

Safety benefits from process equipment modifications

Batch automation often requires significant modifications to the process equipment. For example, automatic additions of ingredients currently added by hand may require the installation of new hoppers or tanks loaded from supersacks or totes.

Piping changes may be required to add flowmeters for individual ingredients and control valves for each flow path. Accommodations to existing tanks will likely be required, such as adding placing tanks on load cells, and adding level, temperature, pH and pressure sensors.

While these equipment changes may be an expensive upfront cost, they may provide safety benefits significant enough to justify the project. These systems will likely eliminate repetitive heavy lifting or the need for an operator to be working on a platform and climbing stairs. It also can limit exposure to dust, chemicals or hazardous locations.

Information systems

Another significant benefit of batch automation is capturing and storing process data for use throughout the production and business enterprise. Engineering can use data to improve equipment design and operation. Production can use it for scheduling, material tracking and inventory management. Quality assurance (QA) can use it to ensure product quality, material tracing and regulatory documentation. Maintenance can use it for scheduling preventive and predictive maintenance.

Most importantly, this data is available to the process operators. Software tools can present this information in meaningful ways in real time, allowing them to observe in detail how the process is running, what has gone wrong, what is about to go wrong and how to improve it. Because operators no longer have to spend their day on the plant floor using their body to start and stop pumps, open and close valves and lift bags and buckets of ingredients, they can dedicate significant amounts of time and effort to putting their minds to work at improving the process instead.

Reducing risk and transforming a workforce

Automating a batch process provides benefits at many levels. Investing in batch automation to limit the facility’s risk in a future pandemic will most likely pay for itself in many ways that weren’t originally considered.

The most significant benefit is likely enabling a workforce transformation by moving operators away from the process equipment, allowing them to stop performing physical tasks, and empowering them to improve process performance with new digital tools. This approach allows them to become proactive thinkers and becoming a huge asset to the company.