In the WS Sweets project, the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology at the Technical University of Munich is working with industry partners to develop a standard- ized communication interface for confectionery production that will enable cost-efficient and manufacturer-independent networking of machines and IT systems.

By Romy Ries, Technische Universität München-Weih

Today, food and beverage manufac­turers are particularly challenged to offer high-quality products at reasonable market prices. Thus, they are caught between their own profitability, customer satisfaction and high responsibility towards consumers and legislators. In order to meet these requirements and still remain competitive, they depend on efficient information technology ­support from various IT systems, such as Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).

In the classic automation pyramid, MES fulfill the task of refining the production orders roughly planned in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), assigning them to production lines and monitoring job production. An MES provides cross-process quality data, reports and efficiency indicators, and ensures continuous batch tracking. For those responsible for production, the MES thus serves as a cross-departmental tool for optimizing operating processes.

If a confectionery manufacturer wants to monitor his entire production, the production facilities must provide the relevant data. In addition, all ­machines and IT systems involved must speak the same "language". While the ERP connection is made today via standard mechanisms, machine networking in confectionery production is a complex task. Automation suppliers use different communication mechanisms, and mecha­nical engineering provides MES-relevant data in different ways or, in some cases, not at all. Consequently, the individual engineering and time effort and the related costs for the connection of different systems are correspondingly high.

This is where the Weihenstephan Standard (WS) helps with

• easy to implement communication standards,
• clearly defined practice-relevant data points,
• domain-specific machine profiles,
• domain-specific evaluation recommendations.

In the WS, more than 440 WS data points (like machine status or measured values) are uniformly and clearly defined. Machine profiles specify which data points must be manda­torily provided by a machine class, for example a cooling tunnel, or can be offered optionally.

For the exchange of WS data points, the two communication standards WS OPC UA and WS Protocol are available in the Weihenstephan Standards. Here, it is specified how the data are structured and transmitted. The WS thus create a uniform ­understanding between all project participants, which significantly reduces the need for harmonization in the project planning and implementation phase.

Moreover, the processing of machine and process data into the required MES functions is also explained in the WS. In domain-specific evaluation recommendations, examples are used to show how WS data points can be used to calculate key figures, track batches or create informative reports. The WS data points also enable ­extensive visualization functions for continuous production monitoring.

The Weihenstephan Standards provide customized evaluation recommendations and WS data point definitions as well as machine profiles for different domains.The precursor of the Weihenstephan Standards was ­developed for beverage filling lines as early as 2000 and has established itself internationally in this domain in particular with WS Pack for beverage filling and packaging systems, published in 2005.

At the initiative of industrial partners, projects followed in which the WS were developed for other domains. In 2010, WS Food was published for the meat processing food industry. This was followed by WS Bake for the bakery industry (2016) and WS Brew for the process area of breweries and beverage manu­facturers (2019). In June 2021, work on an industry-specific standard for confectionery production started with the WS Sweets project.

In the current WS Sweets project, a WS-based interface standard for the confectionery industry is being developed together with confectionery manufacturers, machine builders as well as IT system providers. Based on reference processes for the production of chocolate, fruit gum and bar products, the relevant MES functionalities and the necessary data content are jointly identified, and corresponding WS data points, WS machine classes and profiles are defined.

The starting point for the work on this WS domain is the ChoConnect Showcase. Using these simulated chocolate bar production lines, the standardized machine networking of different manufacturers based on WS OPC UA was demonstrated for the first time. For more information on the ChoConnect Showcase, interested parties are invited to visit www.weihenstephan-standards.com.

The new version of the Weihen­stephan Standards, including WS Sweets, is expected to be available in spring 2023. Interested companies are warmly invited to collaborate on the new standard.

In conclusion, the following can be said: the Weihenstephan Standard ­enables all machine suppliers and IT system providers to prepare their systems in a uniform manner. If the confectionery manufacturer demands WS Sweets in the future when projecting new production lines, the avail­ability of the relevant data is ensured, the individual effort of interface ­programming is reduced and a significant part of system implementation costs is saved.