Enhanced search
 

News

  15/11/2022 | Technology

Kägi builds smart factory with the support of Bühler’s technology

Swiss technology group Bühler is taking the long-lasting and fruitful relationship with Kägi Söhne AG, the Swiss chocolate wafer producer, to the next level. Bühler is supporting Kägi in building its smart factory. By 2024, Kägi plans to have its entire machine park digitally networked and all process data visualized.

One of the first actions of the team was to connect most of Kägi’s production to the Insights platform, Bühler’s digital tool that connects devices, operational metrics, and analytics. With that, the level of transparency on process and machine data has increased significantly. Kristina Polic, Project Lead Smart Factory 2024 and Continuous Improvement Manager at Kägi, explains: “25 to 30 data points per machine connected to Bühler Insights enables both operating staff and management to take their decisions based on data, facts and figures. This is of special interest for the Continuous Improvement Process at Kägi.”

Judith Spreitzer, Project Manager Bühler Services, adds: “Connecting Kägi to Bühler Insights platform creates unique transparency on process and machine data. From raw materials, to baking and filling of wafer sheets, and to chocolate coating, data can now be recorded, analysed, and interpreted at any time.” In addition, all process-relevant data and KPIs for each production step are visualized via dashboards. This allows each operator to see how well the respective process is performing and take the necessary action when needed. This results in higher performance and optimization of processes. By linking and visualizing the data in Bühler Insights, Kägi expects to see an Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) increase of 5 to 8 %.

Based on the outcome of a performance assessment workshop and product tests in the Bühler Wafer Innovation Center, Kägi decided to invest in a fully automatic BM-W 180-H batter mixing plant, a highly efficient Swakt-80 wafer baking oven, and a fully automatic WIS-Eagle In-Line wafer sheet inspection system. “With this plant and Bühler at our side, we are now ready to scale up new products to high quality and large volumes”, emphasizes Franziska Babst, Head of Quality & Development at Kägi.

buhlergroup.com kaegi.com