FOOD & BEVERAGE AUTOMATION
NorthWind’s experience in the food processing industry includes dough mixing, extruded snacks, grain milling, specialty ingredients, and much more. We use this experience to provide comprehensive automation solutions for food processes.
NorthWind has years of experience providing controls and automation solutions for food processing facilities. We have the process knowledge to effectively control ingredient transfer, mixing and batching systems, continuous extrusion, and everything in between. Our software solutions include recipe management, lot tracking, reporting, and ERP integration.
Making bread dough is not the same as making pizza dough and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality because of your recipe management tool. With BatchLOGIX®, recipe management software, recipes include both machine and ingredient set points, as well as hand-add ingredients. By incorporating these factors into the recipes, consistency is achieved for all products.
Trace ingredients through your entire manufacturing process with lot tracking, storage, and reporting capabilities. Lot numbers for liquid and dry ingredients can be traced through multiple systems from source to finished product.
We collect information about everything from critical control points and run parameters to ingredient usage and system alarms. With this information we provide KPI dashboards and setup equipment maintenance alerts. All information is stored and ready for analysis and comparison to real-time data. Our online web reporter tool makes this easy.
Redundancy increases run time by keeping common interruptions such as a server failure, a power outage, or a failed component from shutting the whole operation down.
Common hardware components to achieve redundancy
- Server Cluster
- Battery Backups
- Uninterruptible Power Supplies
Common software backups to achieve redundancy
- HMI/Thin Client Modules
- BatchLOGIX Modules
Control system troubleshooting is just a phone call away. >>Contact our Technical Support Team
Our system reads product temperatures entering the dough mixer and makes proactive adjustments to the temperature of the added water and can even call for specific amounts of ice to reach the optimum dough temperature.
BEMA connects, educates and provides resources for its members and the industries they serve. BEMA creates authentic connections that improve its members’ businesses and the baking industry. Its members utilize the value they gain through BEMA networking and educational events to provide their customers with the most effective, innovative solutions in baking.
SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
BatchLOGIX® – A recipe management tool designed exclusively for recipe storage, campaign management and traceability. BatchLOGIX allows you to be as flexible as you need to be with your recipes. Customizable set points for both ingredients and process equipment can be configured in the system. Historical data can also be accessed through easily customized reports to target specific information using filters. Once created, reports can be exported to Excel, WORD, RTF, or PDF for sharing.
With NorthWind PlantLOGIX™ Security, users are able to log in and navigate seamlessly between all applications in your automation system. As an added safety feature, users are automatically logged out after a pre-set time of inactivity, helping to keep your system secure. The chip in employee badges can also be utilized with an RFID reader for user log in.
BatchMATE® – Hand batching ingredients is a necessary, but often error-prone step in most pet food facilities. BatchMATE helps eliminate operator error by quickly guiding them through the weighing process. Ingredient ID and lot numbers must be scanned before ingredients can be weighed, ensuring automated lot tracking and ingredient accuracy.
What’s next?
WHITE PAPERS
Temperature Measurement in Industry
There are many different choices that can be made when selecting temperature measurement devices for industrial systems. When faced with these decisions, there are many factors to consider: accuracy, sensitivity, price, temperature range needed, etc. This article will discuss three types of temperature…
