Industrial Meat Ovens Cook With RFID
Measuring temperature readings in large industrial food processing ovens has never been simple or easy. Wired temperature sensors are difficult to place in certain areas and their wires are often cut if the equipment has to be moved at a later date. The temperature could be manually read by an employee opening and closing the large oven door to take a reading, but this seems archaic in the technology age. Alkar is a food processing equipment firm which has found a new solution provided by Matrix Product Development, a Madison area high tech electronic design and product development firm, that decreases raw material waste, reduces labor costs and improves regulatory compliance.
The solution is made possible through RFID technology. RFID is an up-and-coming technology which allows information to be read wirelessly from a distance. Imagine the barcode scanning system used in grocery stores, except that RFID can read multiple items at once, at distances up to hundreds of feet, and does not require a direct line of site.
Matrix Product Development used RFID technology to create the Wyze-Temp system. An RFID enabled sensor is attached to the meat as it passes down the oven's conveyor belt. It is durable enough to take the extreme heat of the oven. From inside of the oven, it transmits the temperature information wirelessly to whatever computer system the company is using. This real-time information can then be analyzed on the spot. If the temperature moves outside of specified variance parameters, an audible or visible signal/alarm is tripped.
Information transmitted by Wyze-Temp is incredibly valuable to Alkar for three reasons.
- Raw material cost savings. Temperature can be adjusted much faster than manual methods, ensuring that thousands of pounds of meat are not improperly cooked and thus wasted. For example, if a certain heating or cooling process along the conveyor belt line is not working properly, technicians can be informed and fix it without delay.
- Labor Costs. Labor costs are greatly reduced as employees no longer have to be responsible for the dutiful task of opening and closing the oven door to take readings throughout the day.
- Compliance. This Wyze-Temp system also helps Alkar stay compliant to the many regulations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which very closely monitors the inner workings of meat preparation and cooking. The Wyze-Temp system helps ensure that nothing goes wrong during the cooking procedure which could lead to E-Coli or other sickening food-borne illnesses.
Approximately 5 companies use the system for their continuous-cooking ovens (which use the conveyor belt system) while many more are using it for batch ovens (in which the food is relatively stationary). They are very excited about the cost reduction in both waste and labor, as well as increased regulatory compliance.
Alkar and Matrix Product Development first met in 2007 to develop a solution. By 2009, Alkar was using these temperature sensors in their continuous-cooking ovens. This solution was slow to become accepted as there is little margin for error in the food-processing industry. However, as time has worn on, Alkar has grown to trust the Wyze-Temp system with increasing confidence. It is just a matter of time before this system spreads across industry and market lines.
SOURCE: MoreRFID