Bühler launched the next generation of scales, Tubex Pro, that brings weighing to the next level, using advanced connectivity and digital applications.
In 2017, Bühler introduced the first Tubex. It processed three times more measurements than conventional scales. With its electromechanical drive system, rather than standard pneumatic cylinders, Tubex has saved its customers up to 95% of energy for the last two years. The scale has an electromechanical drive that enables much more precise motion and position control and an integrated diagnostic system that helps to detect and repair problems. It has a hygienic design and drive components are wear-free, which substantially lowers maintenance costs. During the first two years that Tubex has been on the market, Bühler has carefully gathered customer feedback and made many upgrades that were incorporated in the new Tubex Pro.
The company said that Tubex Pro is taking digital connectivity and plant control to a new level. It is easier to integrate the scale into plant control systems and transfer data into cloud applications to analyze and visualize data for better yield management, predictive maintenance or to support customers remotely through Bühler’s global service network. Tubex Pro will be connected to the IoT platform powered by Microsoft Azure. It is designed to ease the data collection and analysis for food and feed processors and to trace and track products, and raw materials.
While Tubex is fully available on the market, Tubex Pro will be on sale starting in the second half of 2019. Retrofits will also be available to upgrade Tubex to Tubex Pro.
The company also has new available digital applications as the Yield Management System, a cloud-based monitoring solution that provides remote oversight of production data. It visualizes and compares deviations from recipes, so customers can monitor and benchmark their production sites. The digital yield management system is one of the first of its kind and works together with Tubex Pro via Bühler Insights to increase production efficiency and yield. This will help millers and other food processors to stay competitive in a fast-changing environment. “Competition and issues like food safety are becoming more demanding,” Stefan Birrer, Bühler’s Head of Milling Solutions, said. “To be successful, you have to be very efficient and very flexible. Product recalls and contamination have made customers feel insecure. So, the need for food safety and traceability has dramatically increased. With digital applications, services and technologies such as blockchain we can achieve breakthroughs and meet these challenges,” Birrer added.
