When dealing with a natural product such as potatoes, you face consistently changing raw material quality. This includes factors like potato size, dry matter content, or the number of blue spots. These aspects impact the optimum speed at which a production line can run and the optimum temperature settings.

In the past, the operator determined the optimal process settings based on experience. At least two hours and a lot of manual calculations later, we could see if the settings had yielded the desired result. But by then, roughly 25 to 30 tons of fries would have been processed”, says Bas.

With these quantities it is incredibly beneficial to have a real-time dashboard that calculates Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It allows operators to quickly understand how to make adjustments.

Important KPIs for this plant include Recovery (which is the yield on the potato) and LineRate (the maximum output per hour). “If you can increase the yield on the potato and maximize your output, you can significantly boost the profitability of the factory. That’s why we focus on these aspects” Bas explains.

Other information on the dashboards refers to utilities consumption like (bio)gas, electricity, and water. These are crucial KPIs in the context of sustainability, an area of significant importance to the organization. And there are many more plans for new dashboards to come. ‘Digitalization is the future, so we must definitely continue on this path,’ says Bas.

When we look outside, we see that the sky above the Dutch potato fields stretches endlessly, much like the vastness of the Cloud: So bring on more potato data; there’s always room for improvement.

Lamb Weston is a global player in the field of high-quality potato products, where they produce frozen fries in all sorts and shapes that bring joy to people. They also supply semi-finished products for soups, sauces, or mashed potatoes. In the Dutch town of Oosterbierum, about 125 employees work daily to ensure the production of around 2 million portions of frozen fries.