Maple Leaf Foods grows sustainable protein production to Raise the Great in Food: Social Development: Hitachi

Hitachi helped Maple Leaf Foods apply several IoT innovations to keep an eye on operations, offer leading-indicator warnings for possible problems and expose other data-driven insights that add to operational quality. “Hitachi brought the complete end-to-end gain in terms of professional services, innovation, process understanding and the hardware application to offer us a full turnkey solution,” stated Dan Di Salvo, vice president of facilities for Maple Leaf Foods.

Working straight with the Maple Leaf Foods operations and IT groups, Hitachi was able to assist by understanding their needs and co-creating the best services, including customized performance control panels and a real-time tracker for products as they are produced. The result was a thorough option on the Microsoft Azure IoT platform that includes more than 100 Hitachi wireless and 3D LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensing units and clever video cameras, barcoding technology and brand-new mobile gadgets for operations workers.

With up to 7,000 animals under its care, Maple Leaf Foods can now utilize barcodes on pens and digital pen tracking innovation to monitor every element of animal well-being. “We can immediately calculate the time the animals enter the pen and from there understand when they need to be fed,” specified Brian Hay, Maple Leaf Foods’ senior manager of logistics and animal welfare.

Smart video cameras keep an eye on the assembly line to make certain processes are being followed properly which any concerns are rapidly solved. For instance, the company uses LiDAR imaging innovation to figure out near-real-time weights of bins of meat as they’re filled. “Formerly they were weighed at the end of the day and reports weren’t readily available till the next day,” Di Salvo said. “Now managers can course-correct if yields are down because devices is misaligned or a procedure isn’t being followed exactly.”

Control panels and mobile devices enable everybody to see updated details across the plant floor. Production managers get real-time notifies when issues arise so they can react rapidly. “Communication has actually improved drastically,” stated Tony Lachapelle, plant manager for Maple Leaf Foods. “We get the best data in our hands immediately. The applications allow us to act upon issues and create services much quicker.”

To reduce waste and increase yield, Hitachi assisted Maple Leaf Foods establish a special real-time tracker to keep an eye on which items are being made and when to alter over to the next item. “If we overproduce, we require to repack,” Di Salvo said. “Now we can track product needs in genuine time and ship basic materials to other centers as proper.”