Food and Beverage Automation
Recipes that run the same on every shift, lines that report their own downtime, and production records you do not have to type. Controls and data systems for food and beverage processing and packaging.
Common challenges in food and beverage plants
- Manual setpoints and recipe errors: operators typing values from a paper sheet, with results that vary by shift.
- Changeover and sanitation downtime that nobody measures accurately.
- Paper production records: lot numbers, temperatures, and weights written by hand and filed for audits.
- Aging controls on processing equipment with obsolete PLCs and HMIs.
- Packaging bottlenecks where machines from different OEMs starve and block each other.
Batch, recipe and sequence control
We structure processing controls around ISA-88: equipment phases and recipes that are selected or downloaded, not typed. Mixing, blending, cooking, cooling, and transfer sequences run the same way every time, and every step is visible on the HMI. For more complex processes we work with FactoryTalk Batch or a lighter PLC-based recipe manager, depending on what the process needs.
Line data, OEE and production records
We capture lot and batch numbers, temperatures, weights, times, and production counts automatically and store them in a database or historian your team can report from. Downtime is recorded by reason at the line, so you know whether changeovers, sanitation, or a specific machine are costing you the most. Data can flow to ERP so production orders and actuals stay in sync.
Packaging, conveyor and palletizing integration
Fillers, cappers, labelers, case packers, and palletizers from different OEMs only perform as well as the line logic that ties them together. We program conveyor accumulation and speed control, machine-to-machine handshakes, and robotic palletizing and case handling with FANUC and Universal Robots.
Built for the realities of a food plant
Control system design accounts for washdown areas, operators wearing gloves, and sanitation modes that must be easy to enter and impossible to forget. Alarms are written for the person standing at the machine, not for the engineer who wrote the code.
Related services
- PLC programming and controls engineering
- MES integration, OEE and data collection
- HMI and SCADA systems
- Robotic and cobot cell integration
Frequently asked questions
Can you help with records for food safety audits?
Yes. We automate the capture of lot, time, temperature, and weight records into a database and build reports from it. Your food safety team owns the program; we make the data complete and easy to retrieve.
Can you add recipe management to an existing line?
Usually yes. We can add recipe storage and download to existing Allen-Bradley PLCs and HMIs, or migrate older controls as part of the project.
Do you integrate packaging machines from different OEMs?
Yes. Line integration is mostly about the handshakes, accumulation, and speed coordination between machines, and we work with whatever interfaces each OEM provides.
Where do you work?
We are based in Big Lake, Minnesota, and serve food and beverage plants across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Talk to an engineer
Plantwide Integration is an independent systems integrator based in Big Lake, Minnesota, serving food and beverage manufacturers across the Twin Cities, St. Cloud, Central Minnesota, and the Upper Midwest. Tell us about the machine or line and we will tell you honestly whether it is a good fit.