Let's talk: AB InBev and Kraft Heinz talk about digitalization

By Jim Montague, Contributing Editor

Digital transformation (DX) is such a huge and torrential topic that it’s understandable why many manufacturers are hesitant to put a toe in, let alone jump in with both feet. But despite some uncertainty, for nearly a decade, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies like Kraft Heinz, Chicago, and Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), Leuven, Belgium, have focused on ways to take advantage of IT and operations technology (OT) convergence, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platforms and other digital technologies to improve operations.

DX holds great promise for driving speed-to-market, manufacturing agility and lower costs. But what success have companies achieved to date? What have they learned, and what challenges and opportunities still await in their DX journey?

Scott Ingles, head of international OT and automation at Kraft Heinz, and Charles Tisdell, global director of automation and connected IIoT at AB-InBev, answered these questions and shared their experiences in a panel discussion at the Food and Beverage Industry Forum during the 2021 Automation Fair^® event held in Houston last November.

“We’re at the start of our digital transformation journey, which is happening on two fronts with different starting points,” said Ingles, who shares responsibility for 40 plants worldwide. “We have our U.S. business and platform that’s pretty mature, so we’re already collecting data, but have to decide how digital transformation can better analyze it, automate it, and get it to the right users for better decisions.”

“However, we also have our international business that isn’t as mature, so we have to build more of the digital transformation infrastructure and find the right foundation for collecting data from crucial assets and analyzing it.”

Tisdell added, “Digital transformation is all about people transformation, too, and identifying gaps in data and equipment performance that need to be closed. We operate 256 facilities worldwide in six continental zones, so we also need to do digital transformation that can scale from North America to other global locations.”

Following the Digital Path

Tisdell reported that AB-InBev is approaching DX from an upside-down perspective by trying it out in frontline settings, and securing quick wins that can be scaled up to larger, more widespread locations.

“We’re looking for use cases that can increase our yield on raw materials, while others are expected to increase equipment efficiency and reduce downtime, or give us better algorithms for increasing boiler efficiency,” said Tisdell. “Beyond developing bigger and better strategies, we also want to get people on the frontline to believe in these transformations, too.”

Ingles added that Kraft Heinz is examining DX through the lens of its regular organizational pillars of quality, safety and production, and evaluating how DX can assist its traditional objectives.

“We’re asking what do we need to do and what do we want to do? We’re also identifying the information gaps between data producers and data consumers, and seeing how we can close them,” he said.

“Our biggest driver remains how to deliver the best product fastest at the least cost. Of course, many people have been at home more due to the pandemic — it’s accelerated our digital transformation journey because we need to provide products even more quickly.”

Readying the Workforce for Culture Change

When it comes to DX, companies across the CPG spectrum have discovered that the technology is often the easy part. Getting both users and the support team committed to the success of that new technology is the challenge.

Tisdell and Ingles offered the following advice to engage the workforce:

Make sure the site is prepared for new technology — and that its arrival does not disrupt other critical ongoing objectives.
Understand the workforce requirements, and deploy additional personnel as needed.
Remember you can’t rely solely on workers already responsible for day-to-day operations.
Groom champions at the site that have experience with the new technology and are already engaged. Those champions are key to getting other workers on board.
Keep in mind that as technology is changing, new roles are emerging. This can be especially difficult to manage.

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“However, we also have our international business that isn’t as mature, so we have to build more of the digital transformation infrastructure and find the right foundation for collecting data from crucial assets and analyzing it.”

Tisdell added, “Digital transformation is all about people transformation, too, and identifying gaps in data and equipment performance that need to be closed. We operate 256 facilities worldwide in six continental zones, so we also need to do digital transformation that can scale from North America to other global locations.”

“This is an area where we need some work,” AB-InBev's Tisdell said. “When you interview a person, you are looking for a certain profile. But if you bring in a new technology and a worker no longer fits the profile, how do you transform that worker?”

Emerging technologies provide some solutions. For example, more CPG companies are exploring augmented reality (AR) platforms to capture and share expertise — and effectively upskill workers.

In addition, the panelists anticipated that new roles will emerge. Specifically, data scientists focused on process optimization will become critical members of operations and maintenance teams.

From Concept to Reality

Both Ingles and Tisdell acknowledged their colleagues and companies are striving to move DX from proofs of concept (PoC) to genuine applications, even if they’re just micro-cases and micro-engagements in the beginning.

“For instance, when we work with a vendor, we’re starting with digital transformation end goals in mind, so we can build cases up to those levels,” explained Tisdell. “There’s not one group driving digital transformation, because it’s actually everywhere. Some or our organizations are excited about digital transformation, and we’re working with their functional areas on how they can use it to meet their individual challenges.

“AB-InBev uses a slew of capability models as part of its global management system, so we’re walking through those models with our coworkers, and looking at how digital transformation can solve them,” he continued. “Anyone can use digital transformation in their local setting, and then others can decide if what they’ve done is useful elsewhere based on their own capability models and drivers. This can go from idea, to model, to KPI, and then digital transformation turns into best practices that can be scaled up in any of our facilities.”

Kraft’s Ingles added, “We’re not just talking about digital transformation for improving machine vision or energy management. We also want to get our staff and leaders fully engaged because this is where the momentum has to start. And we’re not just talking about altering our culture. We’re talking about changing our capital expenditure (CapEx) models, too. Kraft Heinz has steering committees for each organization that needs to decide how they can use digital transformation and benefit from it.”

Building for the Future

For most companies, a successful digital implementation at one facility is just part of the equation. To reap the most value from any investment, solutions must be easily scaled and deployed across multiple sites.

“It goes back to infrastructure — and standards are part of that infrastructure,” shared Ingles. “If you’re applying standard solutions, scale-up in your plants becomes straightforward. But if your infrastructure is weak, digital will struggle.”

A well-managed data system is also a critical component of the infrastructure.

“The concept of the ’data lake’ is changing,” Tisdell elaborated. “Every system must include responsibility for the governance and quality of the data generated. So, by the time the data reaches the data lake, it’s already quality data that’s ready to be used.”

And with a well-managed data system, data sharing can be more strategic, too.

“Source the data once and use it multiple times,” Tisdell continued. “That’s how you get speed-to-market.”

Ingles conveyed that Kraft Heinz already has implemented Ethernet gateways in multiple process applications to pave the way for upcoming DX initiatives.

“We’ve got many disparate data sources and databases in the United States, so we have lots of traditional information. However, this is just the tip of the digital transformation iceberg we’re seeking to synergize,” noted Ingles. “We need more infrastructure to use data better. However, we also know that our IT and OT groups use different models, so they must come together in the same digital transformation environment and share and use each other’s data. This means breaking down barriers that have been in place for years.”

Likewise, Tisdell reported that AB-InBev is integrating its DX efforts with advanced process control (APC) implementations it already has in place.

“We’re also aware that OT and IT have to converge, but we’re also going to need sufficient cybersecurity to do so. We’ve already segmented out networks, but more virtualization will be needed, and IT can help bring it onto the OT side. Fortunately, our IT and OT organizations have a good relationship, so we’re confident we can continue putting in the right cybersecurity measures that will allow each side to share its data.”

DX and Sustainability

Tisdell and Ingles added DX will also allow them to achieve long-sought sustainability goals and profit from them.

“Kraft Heinz just announced its new sustainability initiative,” said Ingles. “We’re tracking our energy use and carbon footprint more closely, and bringing those capabilities to edge operations, not just at the site level, but down to the machine level.”

Tisdell added, “Sustainability will be the gift that keeps on giving, and digital transformation will allow us to achieve it. We’re connecting all of our energy environment and will have a SCADA solution that can view it all. This gift is the reason we need to build momentum for digital transformation.”

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