Miller Magazine Issue: 150 June 2022

55 MILLER / JUNE 2022 NEWS Free-to-download publication spotlights how sorting data can now be easily accessed and understood to gain commercial advantage. TOMRA Food has published a new eBook to help food proces- sors and packers enhance efficiencies and profitability by using information gathered by sorting machines. The easy-to-read, 21-page booklet, titled ‘When Sorters Become Data Generating Machines’, explains how businesses can “connect to possibilities” with the TOMRA Insight data platform, and the competitive advan- tages this gives. The eBook starts by reminding us that sensors in sorting machi- nes can do a lot more than identify whether products or materials on a line should be accepted or rejected. As the book says: “They collect and store every piece of information about what they see. And this information can tell you a lot about how your machine is per- forming, about the products that pass through it, and your process.” The eBook makes the encouraging point that turning TOMRA’s sorters into connected devices isn’t difficult, and businesses can be- nefit from digital sorting data with minimal impact - all that’s needed is wiring and a stable internet connection. The data solution’s software stores and processes the data coming from sorters and presents this in near real-time in a dashboard-style monitoring and reporting sys- tem. This is compatible with SCADA systems - but whereas SCADA controls the process and visualizes related alarms, performances, and control parameters, the digital sorting dashboard enables ad- vanced analytics based on much larger data sets and time series. Two types of data can be generated by sorters. Data at Rest contains non-real-time information about machines, such as ser- vice reports, spare parts history, and manuals. Data in Motion contains a continuous flow of dynamic data originating from the sorting activity, including alarms, sorting throughput, and statistics. It is the Data in Motion which becomes a powerful reporting and decision-making tool. The eBook identifies four categories of process data. Materi- al composition statistics visualize what the machine sees, giving a good view of the nature and quality of the products or materials in the infeed stream. Material distribution statistics visualize the dist- ribution of material on the machine over time, monitoring whether machines and processes are running optimally. Sorting statistics vi- sualize the sorting fractions, serving as a powerful tool for quality ma- nagement and helping to match product characteristics to customer requirements. And machine health data provides information about the machine’s operational status and condition, preventing unneces- sary downtime. This deep mine of information is accessible and actionable through TOMRA Insight, the cloud-based data platform available to TOMRA machine users as a subscription-based service. The eBook explains how digital sorting data gathered by TOMRA Insight is secure - and how, by putting this data to good use, sorting can be transformed from an operational process into a valuable strategic management tool. ‘When Sorters Become Data Generating Machines’ is downloa- dable here free-of-charge. TOMRA Food publishes new e-book to help processors and packers