Automation “The Principle of Automation is to Achieve More with Less”

Bhaskar Mandal, Executive Vice President, Sector Cluster Lead Industry South Asia, Siemens Ltd and Executive Council Member Automation Industry Association, highlights the importance of automation and its usage especially in a country like India where people still tend to associate automation with loss of jobs. Speaking to PROCESS, he elaborates on how important it is to reach out to people to make them understand that automation contributes towards productivity and reduces life cycle costs in today’s competitive market.

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PROCESS: How do you see exhibitions as a platform for reaching out to people at large in creating awareness on automation?

BHASKAR MANDAL: Exhibitions act as great place for vendors and customers as it is a neutral ground from the end-user’s point of view. We use exhibitions to educate people on the benefits of automating in an optimal manner. While showcasing our solutions we essentially focus on conserving and using all resource materials in a more productive and efficient manner which is one of the basic principles of automation.

Moreover, exhibitions are concentrated windows to exchange ideas and get feedback from the end-users. The whole idea is to contribute towards productivity.

PROCESS: How do solutions from Siemens contribute towards more productivity and

perfection in the F&B sector?

Automation Creates Sustainable Development

MANDAL: Let me explain this with a recent deployment of our solutions in the bakery segment. A customer of ours wanted solutions that helped in achieving consistency of color of the cookies he was manufacturing and ensure they don’t break prior to packaging.

Firstly, we focused on taking out the rejected pieces before the cookies were packed. Secondly, we took a step back and looked at the traditional dough mixing practice that the customer followed. We automated the entire biscuit making process for him, thus eliminating the breakage of cookies and achieving consistency in the colors.

This indicates and emphasizes that manufacturers of bakery and confectionery products need an integrated and an automated production process to boost productivity in the long term. Our Totally Integrated Automation and Totally Integrated Power solutions facilitate these industries to lower life cycle costs, provide greater flexibility and maintain high quality in a consistent manner.

Similarly, the processing of milk demands the highest levels of quality and hygiene. The fluctuating quality of raw material and its perishable nature requires the manufacturer of dairy products to maintain consistent levels of quality, which is a very complex task. The SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system with Dairy Functional Toolset (DTF) provides support by linking and coordinating every single step of the milk processing process while continuously monitoring all quality parameters in coordination with the Unilab Laboratory Information Management System.

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