Pally Biscuits: Reducing Production Waste Through Smart Planning with Smart Factory
Pally Biscuits: Reducing Production Waste Through Smart Planning with Smart Factory
Optimising production planning to improve efficiency and reduce waste
A specialist in large-scale cookie manufacturing, Pally Biscuits sought to improve control over its production operations in order to reduce material losses, enhance process reliability, and support its growth.
Faced with planning processes that were still largely manual, the company wanted to gain better visibility into its operations and automate certain critical decisions related to dough production and raw material usage.
The goal was to make production more predictable, efficient, and sustainable while making operators’ jobs easier.
Reducing waste and improving the management of production operations
Before the project, production orders were primarily planned manually. Operators had to create recipes and organise production sequences for each order. This approach led to several challenges:
- Preparing raw materials too early or in excess;
- Overproduction of dough and premixes;
- Difficulty in accurately predicting when production cycles will end;
- Risk of wasting raw materials;
- Non-optimised production line stoppages;
- Lack of visibility into the quantities actually needed.
Pally Biscuits therefore wanted to implement a system capable of leveraging production data in real time to improve planning and optimise the use of industrial resources.
Deployment of Intelligent Production Planning with Smart Factory
To address these challenges, Equans has developed and deployed a new Smart Factory feature called Smart Start & Stop. This automated planning solution was designed in close collaboration with Pally Biscuits’ production and maintenance teams to precisely meet the site’s operational needs.
The solution is based in particular on:
- Automatic equipment setup at the optimal time;
- Real-time production scheduling;
- Dynamic calculation of required raw material quantities;
- Synchronisation of production schedules with the actual pace of production lines;
- Automated management of production shutdown sequences;
- Simplified recipe creation and management;
- Greater visibility into the entire production process.
Thanks to Smart Factory, operational decisions are no longer based solely on operators’ experience but also on reliable, continuously updated industrial data.
More efficient, predictable, and sustainable production
The implementation of Equans Digital solutions has generated rapid benefits for Pally Biscuits.
The system allows for the precise calculation of the quantities needed to complete production orders. When operators set a production end time, Smart Factory automatically determines the exact number of batches to produce in order to minimise excess production. This approach significantly reduces excess dough and material losses.
Teams now have greater visibility into resources, revenue, and production schedules. Operations are more predictable and easier to manage, even in a complex manufacturing environment.
Coordinating the preparation of raw materials, equipment, and production lines helps reduce disruptions and improve operational stability.
Designed to evolve, the solution can be extended to other industrial processes and serve as a foundation for future optimisation and digitisation projects.
Tangible Results Thanks to Smart Factory
Thanks to intelligent production planning, Pally Biscuits now benefits from:
- A drastic reduction in raw material waste;
- A reduction in overproduction of dough and premixes;
- Improved stability of production lines;
- Reduced energy consumption;
- Greater visibility into industrial operations;
- More reliable and predictive planning;
- A system that is easy for operators to learn;
- A scalable platform capable of supporting future industrial projects.
Pally Biscuits' Perspective
“ What we particularly appreciate is the close collaboration with the teams, the 24/7 support, and their ability to think alongside us. Even when faced with complex challenges, we find the right solutions together.”
Daan Burema, R&D & Packaging Manager - Pally Biscuits
The Smart Factory Project's Performance at a Glance
Turn Your OT Data into a Driver of Industrial Performance
Discover how Smart Factory can help you connect your industrial operations, optimise your production planning, and leverage your OT data to reduce costs, losses, and energy consumption. Talk to our experts today.Turn Your OT Data into a Driver of Industrial Performance
Discover how Smart Factory can help you connect your industrial operations, optimise your production planning, and leverage your OT data to reduce costs, losses, and energy consumption. Talk to our experts today.