SHORT DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
Lactalking is an intelligent system that seeks to optimize production scheduling and enhance communication in production plants based on comprehensive process data analysis to improve end product quality as well as process understanding.
PROBLEM:
Chr. Hansen produces lactic cultures as one of their main products and has been collecting considerable amounts of data regarding the process times and conditions throughout many years. Even though, for a particular product, the operations of the process are the same, they have observed significant variability among the quality parameters of the produced batches. For instance, a high quality product should be able to acidify milk in a short time to be attractive for yoghurt producers on the market; nonetheless, the reported time of acidification has not always been satisfactory for batches of a given product.
We have found some trends correlating the time of acidification and the process times for some products. This would mean that for such cultures the longer process, the worse the quality. However, process times are not so easily predicted since the fermentation time is often expanded to meet certain criteria. Often, a batch will have to wait for another batch further down the process to finish. If the waiting batch is sensitive to extended process time, then it would be statistically prone to show worse quality.
TARGET USER:
Chr. Hansen’s production plants. The ultimate user will be the plant managers and the operators.
SOLUTION:
We propose a weekly scheduling system which considers the particular sensitivity of each product regarding process times. Additionally, this system should be able to reschedule the production in a dynamic way based on unexpected events. Prioritizing the order of operations will increase the probability of having a higher quality end product. We also suggest to extend the system with an interface in the form a mobile application that interacts with the operators. In that way the operators are warned with important messages regarding the current process, such as when a certain process has to be extended. Thus, a new optimal schedule has been recalculated to enhance product quality.
Moreover, in biological industries, products sitting in vessels during waiting times often continue to evolve and change their properties. Therefore, closely monitoring the relation between process times and quality of the product can shed some light into the relevant variables and even suggest some strategies to control the conditions in the broth – in a similar way to implementing a secondary fermentation step that could even prepare the cells for successful downstream processing.
Lactalking seeks to enhance communication among the plant managers, the operators, the equipment and even the microorganisms. Communication leads to better process understanding and thus higher quality.
HOW IS YOUR CONCEPT FEASIBLE?:
Chr. Hansen already has a lot of data and the technology for a scheduling system exists at somewhat affordable prices. Since the company knows the individual unit operations very well they have advantage to integrate such system.
FOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITIONS:
- Linking processing time to product quality
- Providing overall process knowledge
- Pointing out some research directions in the process line
- Enhancing communication and versatility to unexpected events
BUSINESS MODEL:
We want to revise the product sales revenue stream and enhance it by improving three aspects:
- Optimized schedules will increase the company’s production capabilities.
- Higher quality will increase the revenue
- Waste will be reduced (also generating less environmental impact)
LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Link to Chr. Hansen’s webpage:
MOTIVATION:
We consider that Chr. Hansen’s production plants pose unique and interesting challenges in terms of data analysis and process understanding due to their dimension and biological variability. In spite of the evident complexity, harnessing these data can actually turn out to be an opportunity to unveil non-intuitive relations that can have significant impact on product quality. We think that Chr. Hansen’s vast experience, state of the art technology and huge market situates them in an unparalleled position to constitute as pioneers in overall process understanding in the bioindustry – we find this situation extremely exciting.
GROUP MEMBERS:
- Jens Sjørslev Pedersen
- Hugo Mobarec
- Maciej Korzepa
- Akhilesh Nair
Concepts, Fall 2016 