THINKAGE TAKES AIM AT FOOD PROCESSING VARIABILITY

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THINKAGE TAKES AIM AT FOOD PROCESSING VARIABILITY
16 January 2002 - BOC Gases

Thinkage LLC is taking aim at the traditional food processing industry problems of fluctuating yield, equipment downtime and product inconsistency by giving processors total control over the state of their product.

The Think Gates service from Thinkage assists producers who are struggling to meet tighter customer specifications and stricter food safety regulations while fulfilling the growing demand for more product styles created in shorter runs. Producers can work with Thinkage to realize more consistent product at significantly lower costs.

Mark Grace, president of Thinkage, says, "For the last decade, food processors have understood the need to improve key areas such as yield, throughput, uptime, unit cost, and other productivity numbers. They have addressed these issues largely by treating manufacturing cells, such as specific equipment, as independent entities, rather than seeking a plant-wide solution. But improving so-called equipment islands only takes one so far until real capital costs, integration and flexibility issues stop any further improvement.

By contrast, the Think Gates technology monitors the state of the food product as it moves along the entire production process. The technology is composed of a total package of reliable monitors, sensors, software and related electronic control networks that is capable of withstanding the harshest plant floor environment. The information is then consolidated and converted into easy-to-use plant floor display screens and visual alarms to be used by all workers to make important, production-related decisions. The entire Think Gates network links all components of the entire process, the equipment, the people and the product, into a fully optimized process for each specific product.

"Process variation can impact productivity by as much as 5 to 30 percent. The Think Gates service can increase efficiency, uptime and product consistency by improving the performance of individual pieces of equipment and by improving the entire linked process. Variability can be replaced with controlled flexibility for the entire process, with savings that are two to five times the cost," Grace said.

http://www.boc.com

About: BOC Gases
Through its PGS line of business, BOC supplies gas and related solutions to the chemicals, petroleum, glass, water services, electronic packaging, fibre optics, hydrogen energy, metals and food industries. BOC helps meet customer needs in a variety of ways, from the supply of a single gas or application through to designing, constructing and operating fully integrated gas and utilities schemes.

The BOC Group, which serves two million customers in more than 50 countries, is one of the largest and most global of the world's leading gases companies. It employs some 44,500 people worldwide and had annual sales of over £4.3 billion in 2003. Further information about The BOC Group may be obtained on the Internet at www.boc.com

The BOC Group has an international portfolio of companies grouped for management control and reporting into three lines of business: Process Gas Solutions, Industrial and Special Products, and BOC Edwards. It also has a specialist logistics business, Gist.

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