Articles by Wayne Labs

It used to be that if you used one particular vendor’s automation products or sensors, you were locked in forever. With today’s open standards-based networks, users are no longer locked in and can shop around for sensors, industrial PCs, PLCs and industrial network devices.

While OEE is a must-have for troubleshooting line problems, contextualized OEE data with its time signatures is a key input in analyzing when and what went wrong with a plant’s total production process, including wasted product and utilities. And it can even aid in the track-and-trace process.

You don’t have to go it alone when searching for and maintaining the perfect batch. Through machine learning and AI-based batch control, the arduous search becomes easier to realize.

As the march continues to make motor efficiency nearly 99%, the way motors are used and applied can make a big difference in the overall sustainability picture of any plant.

Listeria Monocytogenes (Lm) is difficult enough to keep out of a food plant, but once it gets in, the real challenge begins — as it can take up residence in “secret” places that welcome and protect it. Fortunately, processors don’t have to go it alone.

There was a time most maintenance and EAM software operated strictly within a facility or enterprise, but the development of AI and off-premises, cloud-based computing has made it possible to do heavy computing and trending in the cloud. But what happens when the “cloud” goes down?

To make good decisions, people, automation and AI systems need quality data — but to let an AI agent make an autonomous decision without input from operators and key decision makers means a processor needs to have lots of accurate data based on real and known sensory inputs, which may not exist in many plants and enterprises.

Dust in the food and beverage industry is much more than a housekeeping nuisance — it’s directly tied to food safety, product quality, worker safety and regulatory compliance.

Make packaging sustainable by removing plastic and PFAS and replacing them with sustainable paperboard and barrier coatings that are easily recyclable and compostable.

Starting with a clean slate to build your packaging line may be easier than incrementally adding automation, but you must know your products intimately and define your wants and needs of the line — and in the future.