F&D Technology – Air Products has launched a new digital intelligence system that allows food producers to monitor and control their cryogenic freezers remotely, helping to improve efficiency and reduce product loss.
Air Products’ Smart Technology (APST) uses sensor and wireless communications technology to give food producers greater insight into the cryogenic freezing process. With real-time and historical advanced data analytics, the live digital dashboards allow production teams to monitor, assess and optimise freezer performance.
In doing so, APST offers a new level of convenience, efficiency and effectiveness to current cryogenic freezing processes. Supervisors can conduct effective performance evaluations remotely and make adjustments when needed to prevent under or over freezing. The technology helps to optimise freezing process parameters, increasing overall equipment efficiency for higher yield, quality and throughput. This will help to minimise costs, as well as improve the sustainability of operations by decreasing food waste and reducing nitrogen consumption.
The new digital tool, which can be retrofitted to or installed with Air Products’ Freshline freezers, means data can also be accessed remotely by Air Products’ engineers. This means customer enquiries can often be resolved without an onsite visit to help to minimise downtime.
Jon Trembley, technology manager for Cryogenic Applications at Air Products, said: “External challenges have meant there is even more pressure for food producers to deliver quality foods in order to meet customer demands. This is why operational efficiency and product quality have never been more important. Not only do food producers need to reduce costs and prevent product loss, but they also need to achieve a competitive advantage in an increasingly challenging economic climate.”
