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In the United States, Today’s food and beverage producers Electrical systems and
thousands of facilities must remain competitive and profitable production equipment in food
while facing higher energy, raw
are engaged in the material and feed costs. Additionally, and beverage processing plants
supply of processed regulatory agencies such as the Food
& Drug Administration (FDA), U.S.
foods and beverages, Department of Agriculture (USDA), Compressed product-development
cycles, smaller batches, advancing
encompassing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expiration dates and more frequent
and Occupational Safety and Health
everything from poultry Administration (OSHA) have increased changeovers of product types require
adding new automation technologies for
processing to soft food safety and other requirements. better processing flexibility, production
Lastly, new foreign competitors,
drinks. These facilities including those from developing cost containment and quick product
delivery to customers. As many food and
employed approximately countries without strict food safety beverage plants are being consolidated
regulations, have entered the U.S. market
1.46 million workers in and further strained the operating via mergers, leading to fewer, larger
companies, the need for electrical system
3
2012 and generated margins of domestic food processors. standardization has become more critical.
1
more than $13 billion New food and beverage processing
of revenue in 2017. equipment with complex and sensitive
2
electrical systems, controls and
automation are replacing older equipment.
This change is causing maintenance, repair
and operation (MRO) expenses to rise with
increases in maintenance time, technical
1. In the United States, support and power costs. Food and
thousands of facilities beverage processing plants require that
are engaged in the supply their electrical systems be reliable to avoid
of processed foods and costly interruptions of production, even
beverages that must remain if those interruptions last only minutes.
competitive and profitable
while facing higher energy Plant capital expenditures are also
and raw material costs.
increasing to compensate for capacity
1 2. New food and beverage constraints. Process and packaging
processing equipment improvements that use sanitary plant
with complex and sensitive designs protect against product
electrical systems, controls contamination, reduce facility cleaning
and automation are replacing times and increase operational
older equipment, requiring equipment effectiveness (OEE), revenues
that their electrical systems and plant sustainability. To increase
be reliable to avoid costly productivity and food safety, processing
interruptions of production. equipment must be designed to shed
contaminants quickly and allow easy
2 3. The Pluto safety PLCs are cleaning, often in harsh environments.
“supervisor” units; they can
see each other’s inputs and
outputs, make decisions Operating in harsh and
about the immediate safety
environment, and enable corrosive environments
simple communication
and easy alterations of
the safety system. Cleaning and sanitation crews frequently
use high-pressure hose-down methods
3 and high-temperature caustic chemical
solutions to clean equipment, which
www.ieci.org | May/June 2019 | Insights Magazine 15
