Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV
»Future Days: Applied Digitalization in the Food Value Chain«
Industry 4.0 meets practice
As part of the cooperation event with the IVLV (Industrievereinigung für Lebensmitteltechnologie und Verpackung e.V., Industrial Association for Food Technology and Packaging) – you will learn more about how pioneering technology applications of I4.0 are being implemented in industrial practice in the food industry.
In addition to exciting presentations given by experts from industry and research, this event offers a good opportunity to share experiences and challenges and work together to develop solutions.
New date: November 9th, 2023, online - Event programm and registration (Please note that the language of the event is German.)
Review 2022
In May 2022, the »Applied Digitalization in the Food Value Chain« conference was held for the third time in an online format, providing participants with a venue for discussion and the sharing of experience in presentation blocks and a thematic workshop.
The three thematic blocks »Data Acquisition and Data Analysis«, »Digital Twin«, and »Human-Technology Interaction« were the underlying structure framing expert presentations from research and user reports from industry.
In addition, the members of the IVLV also elected the industry representative for the »Applied Digitalization« group in the course of the event. Bernd Plies, CDO at WINKLER und DÜNNEBIER Süßwarenmaschinen GmbH, is now supervising this office and, together with scientific supervisor Dr. Lukas Oehm, is deciding on topics for the IVLV working group.
In the thematic block »Data Acquisition and Data Analysis«, the speakers presented examples from research and empirical experience that show the benefits of AI applications for analyzing process data. For example, Baumer Electric AG used a dairy to illustrate how sustainability can be increased by evaluating intelligent sensory data.
In this block of conference presentations, Fraunhofer IVV expounded upon research results from the areas of food assessment by evaluating chromatographic data from whisky and process-data-based inline quality monitoring of ultrasonically sealed seams. In addition, participants were able to learn about the IVLV-sponsored »imageSAM« project — AI-based status detection from single images as a source of data for operator assistance systems and quality assurance — and were invited to actively take part in the project by providing their own application examples of production processes.
»Product Lifecycle Management & Compliance by Design« was the title of the first presentation given by MDCTec Services GmbH in the »Digital Twin« block. Transaction-Network GmbH & Co. KG discussed the characteristics of digital twin and the resulting benefits for users.
The focus of presentations during the thematic block »Human-Technology Interaction« was on the people involved in production. For example, Fraunhofer IVV demonstrated how digitalization can help machine operators to avoid operating errors and bring up OEE. Peerox GmbH, which has been offering its MADDOX product on the market since 2019, shared the story of how it was founded, from its start as an IVLV-funded project to its involvement in the pre-competitive development of prototypes for an operator assistance system. Afterward, the Dresden University of Applied Sciences answered the question about whether game design and mixed reality could be a (r)evolution for the food industry with a resounding yes.
On the second day, the participants were given insights into research projects currently underway under the auspices of the IVLV, presented by the group’s scientific supervisor, Dr. Lukas Oehm.
The subsequent workshop centered on the following key questions:
- How useful is digital twin for the challenges facing companies in the food industry?
- How are the task areas of food production employees changing as a result of increasing digitalization? and
- What are the potentials and limits when digitalization meets sustainability?
In three rounds, each with 30 minutes for discussion following a brief introduction to the topic in a World Café format, findings from the expert presentations were looked at and worded as questions forming the basis for further projects in pre-competitive cooperative research.
Among others, the topics will be »Digital Twin in Practice« and »Resilient and Sustainable Food Production in 2023«. The initial results will be presented at the next event in 2023.
You can find the 2022 program here: