Successor to the Automation Pyramid What a Production IT System in the Food Industry Must Be Capable Of

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A factory without data is hardly imaginable—the system architecture is too complex. How must production IT be structured to enable efficient data processing in food production?

It is 5 a.m. in a dairy somewhere in southern Germany. The first trucks with fresh milk roll into the yard, while the machines hum in the production hall. In the control room, an employee concentrates on several monitors: One displays the real-time data of raw material intake, while another monitors the temperature of the pasteurization process.

In the background, the filling machines are running, and the shift supervisor checks on the tablet to ensure that all systems are ready for production to start. With one click, he initiates the production order for 5,280 US gallons of fresh milk. The system automatically distributes work instructions to the machines, manages batch assignments, and coordinates tank cleaning between production steps. Meanwhile, quality data and process parameters are seamlessly recorded and centrally documented.

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The entire process runs like a well-rehearsed orchestra: from goods receipt to processing, packaging, and delivery. Deviations are immediately reported, and adjustments can be made directly. In many production facilities within the food industry, a similar approach is taken: the IT architecture coordinates the operations in the background. But how must it be structured to ensure everything functions smoothly?

Networking has Increased

The automation pyramid has long been a standard in the production environment—including in the food industry. However, mapping new IT architectures within it is becoming increasingly difficult. Many aspects can no longer be represented hierarchically, as in the automation pyramid.

Peter Hofmann, Manager of Innovation at MPDV, explains: "A significant disadvantage of the pyramid model is that only directly adjacent layers communicate with each other—and usually through proprietary protocols. Today, networking has significantly increased, for instance, to capture and analyze quality data in real time in the food industry, making this communication principle no longer effective." This is why the trade press has often headlined: "The Automation Pyramid is Obsolete."

The principle is as simple as it is ingenious: All systems and devices communicate with the MIP. This means there is only one interface, which is also standardized.

Peter Hofmann, Manager Innovation at MPDV

From the Pyramid to the Hive

Experts therefore propose building the successor to the pyramid as a network, where everyone can communicate with everyone. This achieves the goal of hierarchy-free communication. The new challenge, however: the number of interfaces increases exponentially. If every system and every device can connect with others, a large number of links are required, which grow significantly with each new device. Adding to this, there is no omnipresent standard protocol. This means that, especially in food production, where production lines often need to be reconfigured and equipment from various manufacturers must communicate with each other, the increasing number of interfaces becomes a major challenge. A central platform, a hub, is needed for this.

With the Manufacturing Integration Platform (MIP), MPDV embarked on this path several years ago. Hofmann explains: "The principle is as simple as it is ingenious: all systems and devices communicate with the MIP. This means there is only one interface for each, which is also standardized." If an additional system or device needs to be connected, another interface is established, and the complexity is resolved.

A Modern Architecture Model Emerges

For the visual representation of the new model, MPDV's experts chose a multi-layered honeycomb structure, inspired by bees. It is also suitable for depicting highly dynamic, regulated processes in the food industry: the compact design represents the reduction of interfaces in production IT—a benefit when it comes to adjustments and traceability in the food sector. MPDV calls the new model the "Smart Factory Hive." It consists of four layers:

• Data/Shopfloor: This is where all data providers are located, such as sensors for temperature monitoring, equipment for cleaning cycles, or systems for batch tracking. It can also include aggregation platforms, such as systems based on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
• Integration: If data needs to be processed, distributed, or analyzed, the integration platform ensures that everyone receives the necessary and authorized data.
• Applications: Every type of production IT application, such as recipe management, batch tracking, or production planning, resides in this layer.
• User Groups: The individual user groups in the company, from machine operators to quality assurance and management, are assigned to the top layer. Each user can access their applications and assigned data.

All layers consist of a flexible honeycomb structure that contains the individual components of the layer. Different types of components are grouped together depending on the layer.

Rethinking Data Collection And Processing

According to the Smart Factory Hive approach, the practical example from the beginning changes at several points: The first trucks deliver fresh milk to the dairy, the machines in the production hall are running, and the real-time data of raw material reception and the temperature monitoring data appear on the monitors—everything remains the same until this point. To display the data, it is collected at the shop floor but is now transferred to the integration platform MIP—representing the integration layer in the Smart Factory Hive model. The applications on the application layer retrieve their information from the MIP and visualize it on the displays.

In the background, the filling machines start running, and the shift supervisor (User Groups) checks on the tablet whether all systems are ready for production to begin. With a single click in the production IT, he initiates the production order for 20,000 liters of fresh milk (Applications). The system automatically distributes work instructions to the individual machines—via the integration platform (Integration). It manages batch assignments and coordinates the time-critical cleaning of tanks between production steps. Meanwhile, quality data and process parameters are seamlessly collected (Data/Shopfloor) and centrally documented (Integration). In the Smart Factory Hive model, the integration platform ensures that all processes run in an organized manner: from goods receipt to processing, packaging, and delivery, all workflows interlock and are digitally monitored—without requiring a multitude of interfaces.

Central Hub for Tailored Data Distribution

A similar linkage of data collection with the resulting activities can be described for any type of order, event, or company. The process is always the same: the collected data is available to every application within the integration platform. The Smart Factory Hive paves the way for data from the shop floor to the user. The barely visible hierarchy of individual applications becomes transparent. The user can navigate more intuitively.

The integration platform is thus the central hub for tailored data distribution. An intelligent networking of machines, systems, and people is therefore no longer a topic of the future but already the key to successful and future-proof food production today.

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