Chocolate Manufacturer

The Challenge

After securing an account with a major wholesale retailer, the chocolate manufacturer set to increase the pieces of chocolate they produced by nearly 30% while decreasing cost of goods sold (COGS). In order to meet these goals, the business needed more insight into their production processes.

Much of their manufacturing equipment, however, was analog. While their equipment ran effectively, it was expensive and lacked native connections to the internet. This made it difficult to track key production information during runs.

The Results

Bringing Legacy Machines Online with Analog Machine Monitoring

Using Tulip’s plug-and-play IoT connectivity, the chocolate producer attached sensors to analog machines, allowing them to track performance data in real time. With Tulip, they can now track metrics like RPM, cycle time, engine speed, machine efficiency, temperature, and humidity for their entire production line. This data has helped the business optimize their production processes and create accurate benchmarks for the business. Using Tulip for analogue machine monitoring, they now have a data-driven picture of machine uptime and downtime, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), the amount of waste generated by machines, as well as a quantitative picture of quality.

Identifying Bottlenecks at the Source

Before Tulip, the chocolate manufacturer struggled with production bottlenecks. When faced with increased demand, their alternative solution was to purchase more machines. With Tulip, the business was able to identify new bottlenecks, and confirm process inefficiencies that they previously lacked the data to confirm. When bottlenecks do happen, an inline Tulip app allows operators to record the conditions immediately, aiding in root cause analysis. With Tulip, the business increased the amount of pieces produced per shift by 15%, and improved machine uptime. This, in addition to the money they saved by not purchasing new machines.