Insider Brief
- Panevo secured funding from Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) for a $3 million project to develop an AI-driven production scheduling optimization platform, collaborating with Saputo.
- The project aims to address production scheduling challenges in the FMCG manufacturing sector by leveraging real-time data and AI to optimize production schedules, aiming to improve productivity, reduce changeovers and unplanned downtime.
- The initiative will lead to a commercially ready Industry 4.0 solution for food processors and FMCG manufacturers, showcasing significant savings and potential GHG emissions reductions through optimized production scheduling.
PRESS RELEASE — VANCOUVER, BC/ ACCESSWIRE/ March 11, 2024 — As part of a $3 million collaborative project, Panevo has secured funding from Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) to develop and scale an innovative production scheduling optimization platform.
Building upon the successes of their 2021 Industry 4.0 project, Panevo is collaborating with Saputo to address production scheduling challenges for food processors and FMCG manufacturers. Leveraging real‑time performance data in their ioTORQ LEAN manufacturing platform, Panevo will utilize AI to optimize production schedules and unlock productivity gains.
In many FMCG manufacturing environments, it is often impossible to create the perfect production schedule due to the vast quantities of product SKUs and their permutations, dynamic production demands and the complex nature of line interdependencies. During the project, Panevo’s ioTORQ software, which utilizes the latest technologies and is hosted in Canada on Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, will be enhanced with machine learning models that create outputs for production planners. Advanced optimization algorithms, coupled with data science and machine learning methodologies, will generate optimal production schedules that account for real‑time metrics for each product combination, such as line speeds and changeover durations and the likelihood of unplanned downtime.
This project will create a novel, commercially ready Industry 4.0 solution that will enable a step change in production scheduling automation and productivity for food processors and FMCG manufacturers in Canada and beyond. Savings will be generated through reductions in changeovers and unplanned downtime, which will serve to debottleneck assets and provide more time for preventative maintenance.
As experts in industrial energy management and resource conservation, Panevo will also be able to demonstrate GHG emissions reductions generated from productivity gains secured through the optimized scheduling.
Quotes
“Thanks to support from NGen, we’re excited to embark on the next stage of development for our ioTORQ LEAN advanced manufacturing platform,” said Panevo’s founder and CEO Craig Holden. “Production scheduling is a complex challenge and one that our experienced team of data scientists, software developers and professional engineers is looking forward to”.
“NGen is pleased to support this collaboration between Panevo and Saputo,” said Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen. “The project is a great example of the benefits that partnership can bring to innovations in advanced manufacturing.”
About Panevo
Founded in 2013, Panevo provides energy conservation and process optimization engineering services. Leveraging expertise gained by working with corporations across a wide range of manufacturing sectors, the company has developed the ioTORQ suite of software products for energy conservation, lean manufacturing and utility bill management, which are utilized to deliver value for North American industry. https://www.panevo.com
About NGen (Next Generation Manufacturing Canada)
NGen is the industry-led not-for-profit organization that leads Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing. Its mandate is to help build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities in Canada for the benefit of Canadians. NGen works to strengthen collaboration among its membership of more than 5,000 manufacturers, technology companies, innovation centres, and researchers, and provides funding and business support to industry-led initiatives that aim to develop, apply, or scale-up transformative manufacturing solutions in Canada for commercialization in global markets. www.ngen.ca/membership
About Saputo
Saputo, one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, produces, markets, and distributes a wide array of dairy products of the utmost quality, including cheese, fluid milk, extended shelf-life milk and cream products, cultured products, and dairy ingredients. Saputo is a leading cheese manufacturer and fluid milk and cream processor in Canada, a leading dairy processor in Australia and the top dairy processor in Argentina. In the USA, Saputo ranks among the top three cheese producers and is one of the top producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products. In the United Kingdom, Saputo is the leading manufacturer of branded cheese and dairy spreads. In addition to its dairy portfolio, Saputo produces, markets, and distributes a range of dairy alternative cheeses and beverages. Saputo products are sold in several countries under market-leading brands, as well as private label brands. Saputo Inc. is a publicly traded company, and its shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “SAP”. Follow Saputo’s activities at Saputo.com or via Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Media Contacts:
Craig Holden — Founder & CEO
[email protected]
Robbie MacLeod — Director Strategic Communications
[email protected]
1–613–297–3578
Saputo Inc.
[email protected]
1–514–328–3141 / 1–866–648–5902
