Fazer Makeiset

The challenge: Diverse production requires careful and systematic monitoring

There is a total of seventy production and packaging lines in Lappeenranta, which depend on each other in various ways. Systematic development of production by manual or statistical methods alone would be practically impossible, so production is automatically monitored with the Machine Track by Pinja system.

The numerous production lines of the confectionery factory affect all of the factory’s processes. Therefore, measuring overall usability and locating problems is very important. The measurement data also provides information on cost savings.

The solution: Savings from increased usability

Technical Manager Jari Vahersalo says that the OEE indicator that measures production efficiency is accurately measured in Lappeenranta.

According to Vahersalo, the factory’s operations are also significantly affected by the fact that various confectionery mixes have grown in popularity year by year. In packaging, for example, this means that the different parts of production are more closely intertwined. The confectionary mix cannot be packaged unless yellow candies are included, in which case the bagging of products of other colors will halt.

According to Vahersalo, one of the best features of Machine Track is its clarity. All it takes is a glance to see what lines are currently running. You can also see the usability of the lines from the previous hours at the same time.

Reporting tool

Machine Track is used in about half of the production lines. The main emphasis is on the latest machines, as they are generally the most important for the whole production.

Machine Track is linked to the SAP ERP system used throughout the Fazer Group. “SAP provides a production plan, and Machine Track provides information on the outturn, which can then be compared to each other” says Toni Kaljunen, Director of Maintenance.

Machine Track provides great support for reporting, as it allows the summarization and simplification of information collected from machines. This makes it visually accessible. The Lappeenranta factory also uses a Machine Track Quality Tool that allows quality checks for process inspections to be fed directly into the system instead of using paper notes.

Clear maintenance

The Lappeenranta confectionery factory has long used the Maint system to organize maintenance, which was updated in the spring of 2016 to the new Novi by Pinja maintenance system. Previously, when Maint was exclusively in use, the equipment structure of the entire factory was handled with the maintenance system, as well as the spare parts and preliminary maintenance of electrical parts. Maint was also used for fault reports and fault reporting policies. These functions were moved entirely to the Novi system. In addition, the handling of certain tasks that were previously entered through SAP was moved to Novi. These included, among others, all preliminary mechanical maintenance, route maintenance, equipment management, and the management of mechanical spare parts.

The transition to Novi was set in motion due to a desire to streamline and reorganize the maintenance organization so that installers could do their job with just one system. The daily maintenance operations are now handled mainly through Novi.

A well-functioning maintenance system plays a major role at Fazer’s confectionery factory, as more than 3,000 faults are entered in the system every month. The factory also employs several external parties and subcontractors, setting requirements for ease of use of the system and reporting. In addition, work supervision and monitoring are important, as about 40 installers work at the factory each day.