Embracing Industry 4.0
The large poster of a woman whose mouth is coated with chocolate is difficult to miss. The tagline says: "We create delicious moments of joy".
But before Mondelez India's Cadbury Dairy Milk can spread that joy, the chocolate, milk, sugar and nuts must all be put together, and the bars formed. Machines, not men, make what you eat. In fact, machines control nearly every process, even wrapping, packing, storing and dispatching the chocolate bars.
The plant in Andhra Pradesh's Sri City packs 6,300 chocolate bars a minute. A 'line of the future' is the centrepiece a 250 metres long metal tunnel, which resembles a long train coach. Inside, chains, two kilometres long, run and rotate without stopping. Chocolate moulds are attached to this chain. Overhead conveyors carry liquid chocolate and depending on the recipe and size of the bars to be produced, fill the moulds automatically. Machines inside the tunnel then take the moulds through horizontal and vertical vibration, which ensures that the spread of chocolate is uniform. The chocolate is gradually cooled at different temperatures. The bars then fall onto a conveyor, and make their way out of the tunnel. It takes about 18 minutes to turn the liquid chocolate into bars.
The moulding tunnel cannot be opened while it's running, though it is monitored using software. In other words, it is a connected machine fitted with programmable logic controllers that continuously send out live data to a central processing centre. The machine quickly sends information if the moulds have too much liquid chocolate or if there is a quality rejection. A camera system in the tunnel watches out for any abnormality. This avoids wastage and helps in preventive maintenance.
Once out of the tunnel, the bars pass through a metal detector that checks for contamination while a 3D detection system with sensors checks for alignment. If everything is as required, the bars move on to a wrapping machine where they are sealed. Robots finally pick them up and place them into small boxes. The robots also make the boxes from carton sheets, glue the boxes and place them on a spiral conveyor to be transferred to the warehouse.
About 350 people work at
