Finnish fish producer optimizes production with Insights Hub, the industrial IoT solution from Siemens

Modernizing production processes

Heimon Kala, based in Hämeenlinna, Finland, is one of the country’s five largest smoked fish companies and has been a leader in the fish processing industry for over three decades. In order to stay ahead of the competition, the company realized the importance of digitalization in meeting customer demand. To that end, Heimon Kala is utilizing cloud services, data analytics and reporting to improve its competitiveness. Heimon Kala did this through a modernization project for three
smoke ovens using Insights Hub, the industrial IoT solution from Siemens for improved operational decision making. Insights Hub is part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software,
hardware and services. This project showed the company how it could more easily measure results, reduce cycle time and dramatically decrease assembly time.

“In our previous process, we manually monitored the internal temperature of fish being smoked, and we wrote the data down on a piece of paper,” says Risto Mälkönen, plant manager, Heimon Kala. “Process control and reporting values were done manually in a spreadsheet. Now, we are using eight different measurements in our ovens, from which the data is automatically and securely collected in the cloud service of Insights Hub. From there, we receive batch-specific reports after each smoking operation directly in our email."

Mälkönen was surprised by how much valuable, production-related data can be obtained from the smoke ovens through measurements. The company’s ability to monitor all aspects of the process improved considerably.

“In addition to the internal temperature of the fish, the report includes data such as the temperature of the supply air, the percentage of moisture, the settings and program used, as well as the name of the product and the oven user,” says Mälkönen. “With this data, we can further optimize our production and improve product safety.”

Modernizing processes for competitive advantage

Competitive pricing in the fish processing industry forces Heimon Kala to ensure their processes are fine-tuned to preserve their place in the market. As such, embracing digitalization is a requirement for success, not an option.

Finnish machining manufacturer Lehtech modernized processing by using Insights Hub digital reporting apps. In addition to Insights Hub, Heimon Kala is also using Siemens’ Simatec S7-1500 series logic controllers, a comfort panel and a SINAMICS G120P frequency converter, which can be installed directly on the side of a smoke oven.

“The diagnostics visualized in the panel accelerated troubleshooting,” says Mälkönen. “We can now see all moving parts of the oven, from doors to valves, on the display. And thanks to digital reporting, the control parameters of the previous batch of rainbow trout can be immediately used to optimize the smoking process of the next batch.”

Production increases by 25 percent

Heimon Kala is currently undertaking a heat recovery project in which heat escaping from the oven is recovered and used for heating wash water. This process decreases the carbon footprint of production, as the washing water of the smoking plant is heated with oil. More heat is escaping from the ovens than is needed for heating the washing water.

“We will use the rest of the heat to balance the supply air of the ovens with a refrigerating machine; the supply air will be cooled in the summer and heated in the winter. This way, we can smoke the fish consistently under ideal conditions throughout the year,” says Mälkönen.

The benefits of process optimization through Insights Hub are directly visible in the production quantities. Mälkönen says that with Heimon Kala’s improved measurement and control technology, the company now smokes 25 percent more fish than was previously possible. Using Insights Hub, Heimon Kala can now produce one batch of fish in three hours where previously it took four hours to complete the process.

Insights Hub implementation in one day

It took just one day to define the report, set-up the ovens as assets with all the sensor parameters in Insights Hub and connect all sensors to the cloud through MindConnect Nano. MindConnect Nano is a preconfigured device that collects data from different protocols and quickly and securely connects to Insights Hub to transfer the data. Heimon Kala uses Insights Hub capability package to begin the process.

“With Insights Hub capability package, we store data, configure assets, users and rules,” says Mälkönen. “We also like the ability to use applications from the Insights Hub Store to provide all necessary services to our customers.”