More transparency in the cleaning in process (CIP) in the beverage bottling industry through digitization and data analysis
The CIP process in the beverage bottling industry plays a key role in ensuring the quality of a bottled product. If the cleaning process runs incorrectly, the subsequent product to be filled cannot maintain the standard in terms of taste and purity, which can result in considerable damage to the company's image in terms of product manufacturing.
A changeover matrix specifies which cleaning program and its program steps must be run when changing to another product to be filled. This sequence can lead to deviations and errors in the individual cleaning processes. Using the CIP use case, we show how to make errors in the CIP process visible and how the CIP benchmarks can be analyzed and monitored.
Initial situation Beverage producers with sugar-containing and flavor-intensive product portfolios must pay particular attention to the CIP process when changing products in production.
To maintain high product quality, no flavor or sugar residues must be present after the CIP process. Therefore, the process must always meet the defined cleaning requirements.
Due to compliance with production specifications, it sometimes happens that cleaning processes are manually shortened to meet the specified production time. In addition, failure to comply with temperature specifications, additions such as caustic solution, or other cleaning agents in the specified quantity can deviate, which in turn does not meet the manufacturer's quality requirements.
What was done The customer's CIP matrix with the individual cleaning programs is the basis. All individual cleaning steps (benchmarks) of each CIP program with the upstream steps, such as, preparations for hot water, lye etc., are stored in the Pocket Factory. Adjusted standard values, so-called benchmarks, are formed from these values.
This adjusted data is analyzed to determine whether the step sequence, time intervals and process variables in the CIP are adhered to over a specific period of time. A log is created for each CIP operation that records all steps of the cleaning process and provides warnings if the deviation from benchmarks is too high.
Results Data analysis takes place at the customer's site, each CIP process is recorded and can be retrieved. The analysis provides information about possible errors in the CIP process execution already during production. Interventions can be made quickly, and product quality impairments are detected at an early stage, preventing defective products from reaching the market.
In this way, the bottler has his filling batches under control. This is a continuous, automatic monitoring of quality and thus a useful supplement to random, manual quality testing in the laboratory.
Logging of all benchmarks of the CIP processes
Logging of all CIP processes
Warnings in case of deviations during the cleaning process
The analysis of the CIP (Cleaning in Process) as an automatic quality control during production enables a continuous improvement of the production processes.
Picture by Ulrike Sedlaczek