What is IoT?

IoT, or the Internet of Things, is a combination of several cyber-physical systems communicating with each other autonomously – generating an increased amount of data. By using that data – usually measured with improvements to safety, productivity, efficiency, and cost – overall operational excellence is improved.

The Problem at Hand...

As with most industries, pet food shares many of the same demands around quality and productivity, however, there are a few unique challenges with pet food.

Challenges in Quality:

• Ingredients: When it comes to ingredients, pet food deals with an ever-increasing number of materials that have different density, consistency, and flow rates. Maintaining the right balance can be a challenge.
• Lot Code Tracking: Take Protein raw ingredients for example, because of their fibrous nature, they can vary significantly within the same lot. Over the past several years consumer demand has increased the number of formulas exponentially to address both health, age, breed, and humanization of pet food.
• Moisture Control: A critical component, finding and maintaining the proper balance for each formulation is key to controlling durability, palatability texture, and shelf-life.

Challenges in Production:

• Production Process Control: The proliferation of different packaging materials, designs, and sizes has added another level of complexity to the industry that requires day to day flexibility and its own unique set of challenges.
• Traceability: Consumers want to know where their pets’ food comes from. Traceability and lot code tracking require a higher level of connectivity between process steps than previously used in the past. IoT can effectively address each of these challenges.

Handshakes of Data...

From automated receiving to out the backdoor shipping, and even to the distribution center or final delivery. The ability to run audits to support internal quality procedures, hold or conduct internal recall of product is simplified and less time consuming.

In conclusion, a single system can track an entire production process by utilizing IoT to connect each challenging part of the process with handshakes of data at every step.