IoT-RTLS for fruit and vegetable packaging lines
IoT RTLS solution for monitoring production costs and increasing productivity in an apple packaging plant
A model of efficiency and innovation in the fruit sector
MIVOR coop. fruit growers MIVO-ORTLER Soc., based in Laces, Bolzano, is one of Italy's major cooperatives for the preservation, selection, and packaging of apples grown in Val Venosta, South Tyrol. It has 340 members and a planted area of 1,070 hectares, producing around 75-80 thousand tonnes of apples, all of which are preserved and processed in the cooperative's 9-hectare factory.
The huge processing area has been completely refurbished in recent years, using cutting-edge technology. The new MIVOR processing room is a result of an accurate project that allows for increased process efficiency through innovative approaches while also increasing the plant's sustainability. It has 16 revamped and ergonomic packing lines, of which three are dedicated to packaging.
Time tracking at workstations: accuracy, automation and regulatory compliance
MIVOR needed an automated solution that allocates operators expenses among production lines and other production areas while observing privacy and worker control regulations.
The required output was a report containing the total minutes and seconds spent by staff at each workstation along each production line.
Ultra Wideband technology and advanced software for intelligent production line management
Ubiquicom developed and implemented a solution utilising Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology. This solution provides real-time tracking of every individual in the workplace, with two updates per second and an error margin of less than one metre.
Using the Ubiquicom Locator platform, worker positions were drawn along the lines defining each workstation's reference area. The project-affected areas had been equipped with 27 UWB anchors that were connected and powered by Ethernet cable. The keyring that each worker already had had been equipped with a UWB tag and a passive RFID tag. This allows every worker to always carry their precise location tag, which is also required for clocking in.
The software's reports are anonymous and only show the total time committed to each line without tracking the locations of any particular employees, in full compliance with worker privacy protection requirements. Ubiquicom and MIVOR management were involved in each stage of the project, from requirements gathering to device assembly and production.
Verified results and advanced automation for more efficient production lines
The accuracy of the system and the solution's compliance with the client's requirements have been confirmed through a comparison of particular work area images with corresponding screenshots of the positions recognized by the system in certain randomly selected moments over a few working days.
As a result, it was easy to identify critical workstations and fine-tune the setup until the Locator platform's data matched exactly what happened on the production lines.
The currently detected positions represent the operation and may be used not only to generate the necessary reports, but also to automatically adjust the speed of the lines according to the number of workers, through integrating the system with the line's PLCs.
