German manufacturing company, Ziemann Holvrieka, is participating in a project led by the Technical University of Munich to develop faster and simpler automation to benefit the food and beverage industry.
As food producers are facing increasing challenges, companies such as Ziemann Holvrieka believe that the way to production systems efficiency in the food industry is through automation and digitalisation, ensuring flexibility and efficiency
Plant engineers and operators in the food industry are facing rising prices for raw materials and energy, reduced lifecycles and increased complexity of equipment, and shortages of skilled labour.
As such, Ziemann Holvrieka is turning its engineering expertise to participating in the virtual facility planning, simulation and commissioning (virtASI) project, led by the Chair of brewing and beverage technology at the Technical University of Munich.
Funded by €703,000 (~$1.2 million) from the Bavarian Research Foundation, the virtASI project aims to make digitalisation of process engineering faster and simpler. Other participants in the project include Munich-based simulation service provider, SimPlan, and Freising-based technology company, Gimbio.
Ziemann Holvrieka head of technology, research and development, Tobias Becher, said the purpose of virtASI is to facilitate automated, model-assisted, virtual engineering in the food industry 4.0, based on modular planning data.
“Our solution, Module Type Packages (MTP), is making a substantial contribution to establishing a standard for automation,” said Becher.
