A shared view of the line: using data to accelerate production start-up

The project team has put weeks or even months into planning, installation and preparation. Now the critical moment has arrived: It’s time to start up a new line under real production conditions. For the first time, the machines will run together as a unified whole. The first products will roll off the line. Everyone involved is working toward a common goal: to ramp up the line to the contractually agreed speed as quickly as possible. But it is precisely in this crucial phase that questions often arise. Why hasn’t the line reached its rated speed yet? Which machine is holding things up? Is the problem in the technology, the materials or a specific process step?  

To get well-informed answers to these questions as early as possible, Krones is infusing the traditional commissioning process with powerful digital features. We call it Smart Commissioning. In it, the project teams use various tools, including Krones’ Analytics solution, which collects, evaluates and presents production and line data in a clear visual format. A central dashboard enables everyone involved in the project to see the line’s current status and the most important KPIs in real time. That includes the teams on-site at the customer’s plant as well as the Project Management Service and Customer Project Management teams supporting the start-up process remotely. The result is a shared view of the line that makes it possible to spot patterns and correlations and highlights specific opportunities for optimization.  

Smart Commissioning is the framework. Analytics is a key component.  

Smart Commissioning is Krones’ integrated approach to getting a new line up and running. To best help customers throughout production start-up and ramp-up, it combines on-site service, remote support and digital solutions comprising Remote Commissioning and Remote Service, cloud-based data provision and remote support from Krones experts. 

The Analytics tool plays an essential role in the process, lending transparency about the line’s performance and making production data available in real time. Depending on the project at hand, customers can mix and match services ranging from traditional on-site support right through to data-based services that provide additional insights into line performance.

Relying on facts, not guesswork

Commissioning is one of the most demanding and important phases of a project. Transparency is critical for the success of this phase in particular. In a very short time, the machines must be brought up to speed and the foundations laid for stable ongoing production. The ability to synthesize information, continually fine-tune processes and make decisions quickly is essential. Meanwhile, the various people involved in the project bring different perspectives and experience to the table. Whereas the service team analyzes the technical aspects, the people responsible for production and line operation are focused on performance, uptime and output. A reliable foundation of data is essential to funneling these different perspectives into shared decisions. 

And this is precisely where Analytics comes in. It’s a digital service that allows customers and Krones team members to access the very same production and line data, so they can base their decision-making on a common foundation. Instead of relying on guesswork, team members can use current, understandable information to prioritize their next steps. Analytics automatically documents when and where production time is lost. Everyone involved in the project gets full transparency about downtimes, their causes and their impact on overall line performance. That leads to faster coordination, facilitates decision-making and supports collaboration among everyone involved.

Smart Commissioning provides transparency about what is actually happening in the line. Because you have to know what is causing a problem in order to truly fix it and to bring the line up to the desired speed faster. Dieter HankoferHead of Central Field Service Line Solutions

Identifying issues before they cause delays  

Analytics highlights anomalies and performance drops early on. Every unscheduled downtime costs production time. Analytics shows where time is lost and which factors impact overall performance. This allows technicians to focus their efforts on areas with the greatest potential for optimization.  

Identifying so-called “time stealers” is particularly helpful in this regard. These are events or factors that unnecessarily eat up production time, such as unscheduled machine downtimes, material bottlenecks, operator errors or process irregularities. Analytics shows not only which time stealers are at play but also their impact on line performance. The information is presented in user-friendly dashboard displays and analyses, which makes it possible to evaluate performance losses, set priorities and make improvements where they will yield the greatest benefit. 

Experiences from international projects – particularly those relating to beverage filling lines – show that data-based analyses are especially helpful for detecting issues early and thus contribute to more efficient commissioning.  

A direct line to expert knowledge 

The availability of expertise is also crucially important, right alongside the analysis of production data. When providing Remote Commissioning and Remote Service, Krones specialists are able to access the same data as the Krones teams on site from anywhere in the world. That enables them to quickly assess anomalies, conduct a thorough cause analysis and derive specific recommendations for action. The big advantage here is that, with the data available digitally, experts can be involved without needing to be on-site. Specialist knowledge can be brought in where it is needed, any time and from anywhere. Customers, too, benefit from the direct access to expert knowledge from Krones’ global network. The combination of local presence and remote support makes for short response times and close collaboration beyond the confines of any one location.

Looking beyond commissioning 

But the key advantage of Smart Commissioning reaches beyond the commissioning phase. The data gained during production ramp-up provides valuable insights and lays crucial foundations for further optimizing production. 

With it, the teams involved can identify improvement potential, further develop processes, support training in a targeted manner and implement additional digital services. For many customers, the added value that a continuous pool of data offers for subsequent production operations already becomes apparent during ramp-up. That is why Krones implements Analytics during new commissioning processes as standard.  

Customers can then choose to purchase an Analytics subscription and continue to use the solution for their new line long-term, tracking developments with transparency and continuously improving their production operations. As such, Smart Commissioning supports the lasting improvement of a line’s performance over its entire life cycle.