How Maple Leaf Foods Used AR to Improve OEE

Price pressure and competition for skilled workers is fierce in the protein industry. To be successful, meat and poultry processors must find better ways to capture more value from the equipment on their plant floors, and to attract, train and retain workers. 

Maple Leaf Foods, headquartered in Ontario, Canada, is a major producer in the agribusiness industry addressing these challenges head-on. Through a unique partnership and innovative pilot program, company leaders want to use augmented reality (AR) to improve operations and deliver benefits across the industry sector. 

The largest provider of prepared poultry and meats in Canada, Maple Leaf Foods also maintains operations in the United States and Asia. The company strives for quality and innovation through its consumer brands that include Maple Leaf, Schneider’s and Greenfield Natural Meat Co.

Combining Talents

Maple Leaf focused its AR pilot on packaging-line challenges and asked Harpak-ULMA Packaging, Rockwell Automation and PTC to work with them on the project. Harpak-ULMA is a Gold level OEM partner and PTC a Strategic Alliance partner in the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork™ program.

Harpak-ULMA of Taunton, Massachusetts, focuses on providing end users with smart, connected packaging machines and end-to-end packaging lines. The company has standardized on a Rockwell Automation control platform, and relies on PTC for pre-integrated Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions, including Vuforia® industrial AR software.

To measure the success of the pilot, Maple Leaf established productivity-centric criteria — specifically, an overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) goal of greater than 80%.

OEE is considered the gold standard for quantifying manufacturing productivity. Actions impacting OEE include upskilling staff through better training, fewer/shorter downtime events, increased first-pass quality, and faster mean time to repair (MTTR).

A “Design and Experiment" Approach

The four companies took a collaborative “design and experiment” approach to the pilot. During the first stage, Harpak-ULMA deployed its embedded OEE application, which automatically calculates, monitors, and reports packaging-line performance in real time.

The firm next deployed the entire library of PTC AR applications and created its own machine-based AR experiences. AR offers rich, visually based work instructions and training and on-demand expert guidance.

Most AR user experiences involve the machine’s digital twin, a dynamic model that virtually represents the physical machine. Digital twins produce life-like animation that allows workers to simulate a maintenance routine or operation before interacting with the machine.

Digital twins also allow personnel to virtually see inside an operating machine to identify the location and condition of components without stopping production.

“AR is the ideal way for Maple Leaf Foods to deliver digital information to front-line workers in the context of their tasks,” says Jim Heppelmann, CEO, PTC. “We believe their pilot program results will underscore the huge opportunity for productivity gains while increasing staff job satisfaction.”

Embedded real-time remote communication and collaboration technologies are also employed, which significantly reduce the need for on-site technical experts.

Demonstrating Early Value

The pilot project quickly demonstrated the value of AR in a packaging line. For example, the OEE application delivers self-diagnosing machine reports that identify machine downtime and high-priority action items by shift.

Using remote connectivity, the Harpak team monitors these reports daily, identifies any high-frequency stoppages, and then builds remediation routines using Vuforia Expert Capture. With this application, OEM experts capture and transform step-by-step procedures into AR-based work instructions operators can access in real time.

When it comes to both training and machine-error diagnosis, AR allows workers to view and interact with a real-time digital twin of the machine from anywhere at any time. This means an OEM often can diagnose a machine without an on-site visit. It also means effective training is possible before an employee enters the plant.

AR-based training is already demonstrating promising results for Maple Leaf. For example, the interactive, visually intensive training has helped minimize language barriers, decrease worker error, and reduce training cycles in an environment that often experiences high staff turnover.

By putting OEM knowledge within easy reach, AR technology also can equip employees with the skills to complete complex tasks, such as packaging tool rebuilds, that typically have been performed by an outside resource.

AR not only provides step-by-step instructions, but also audits task completion as needed. Maple Leaf has targeted three high-value activities for compliance enforcement in the pilot: tool rebuilds, start-up, and shutdown procedures and sanitation protocols. 

Lessons from the Journey

While the protein packaging pilot is ongoing, all four companies will continue to gather feedback, make improvements and assess any future commercialization of the program.

The team has learned the value of a transparent and equitable partnership and an agile perspective. Each company offers unique skill sets. And honest and open feedback between the partners — plus a willingness to change or redirect efforts — is critical to success.

Above all, the team recognizes that technology for technology’s sake is a recipe for failure. The basis for any investment must be a compelling business case that delivers operational and financial value. 

Based in Taunton, Massachusetts, Harpak-ULMA is a Gold level machine builder in the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork™ program and provider of smart packaging equipment solutions.

Located in Boston, PTC is a Rockwell Automation Strategic Alliance and Digital Partner in the PartnerNetwork™ program. The integration of IT and OT technologies combine ThingWorx® industrial connectivity and Vuforia® augmented reality (AR) platforms from PTC with FactoryTalk® Analytics, FactoryTalk® ProductionCentre® MES, and Industrial Automation platforms from Rockwell Automation.

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