AMF embraces digitalisation to quantity and quality control pizza toppings

03-Jun-2021 - Last updated on 03-Jun-2021 at 10:49 GMT

AMF's digital system will optimise the quality and quantity of cheese on a pizza. Pic: AMF Bakery Systems

The Netherlands-headquartered equipment specialist has developed Smart Solutions, a cloud-based software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the quality and quantity control of cheese and other pizza toppings.

According to AMF Bakery Systems, the addition of Smart Solutions to its pizza production machines enables producers to minimise product waste and giveaway, reduce labour requirements and operate more efficiently.

Used with AMF’s Waterfall Applicator, it ‘learns’ to deliver the ideal distribution of toppings such as cheese.

A smart applicator takes images of each item on the production line. Smart Solutions analyses the images in real-time to determine if the amount and weight of the topping is correct. It then adjusts the applicator’s speed and volume settings to deliver the optimum distribution.

Using machine learning technology, the system improves this process over time, detecting and indicating any anomalies.

Its baseline settings can also be used for quick production recovery or to make subsequent runs more effective. In this way, Smart Solutions accelerates production speeds and improves topping application accuracy by at least 3%. This results in pizzas with standardised topping distributions regardless of external influences or human interaction.

Minimising topping waste

This minimises the waste and giveaway of cheese and other toppings, along with lowering energy consumption. The automation enabled by the system can also reduce labour requirements and costs as operators will not need to monitor quantity or change the applicator machine’s settings.

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“I’m proud to launch Smart Solutions, a service that brings automation to pizza production and embraces digitalisation,” said Lex van Houten, regional marketing manager, EMEA, AMF Bakery Systems.

“As well as delivering improved quality control and efficiency for our customers, this solution will also provide us with insights into their needs. We’re looking forward to further optimising Smart Solutions in line with our customers’ feedback, and expanding the offering to more applications.”