Background

MILMA was established in April of 1980 with its headquarters in Trivandrum for the successful implementation of the National Dairy Programme in Kerala.

MILMA required a Data Acquisition System to ensure that a consistent quality of milk was received by the customer. This was done by monitoring the level and temperature of the milk stored in the silos. The data was then transmitted to a central software integrated to the Head Office’s ERP, through the cloud.

The system in use comprised of logging the level and temperature manually, through local gauges. This led to gaps in the quality inspection process as the readings were taken at defined intervals. Hence, the quality of the milk passing between these intervals were left unchecked for their quality.

Solution

The solution includes continuous measurement and logging of milk level and temperature in the silos. Edge computing alerts the users at the field, thus allowing them to take corrective and preventive action, This is done through a mobile application that can access the cloud database. All the data from different plants are stored in a secure central cloud hub. This hub allows retention of data, even in the case of a faulty local server. Systematic synchronization between the cloud hub and the central server allows for local data synchronization. The central software and ERP work together to perform actions like dashboard and visualization, forecasts, generation of recommendations, issuances of gate passes, assignment of actions to devices and to perform searches and post queries.

In this system, data can be monitored both locally and centrally. Through edge computing, operations can take pre-emptive actions , which reduce operator defects and unexpected faults from the equipment. A central software provides forecasts, recommendations and other useful information. Data resiliency is ensured by storing the data in a central access server along with a cloud data hub.

Results

The new system allows MILMA to reduce human efforts in the inspection process. By keeping the temperature constant, consistency of the quality of the product can be ensured. This makes sure that all MILMA customers receive the same quality of milk.