Food production close to the crop
Who says food production must be centralized? Blendhub is revolutionizing access to nutrition with portable production hubs. These compact, plug & play food & beverage factories are delivered in 40-foot containers and can be deployed in strategic locations or underserved areas. At the heart of Blendhub are solutions from Siemens – like Totally Integrated Automation (TIA), Opcenter RD&L, and Teamcenter X – which together help ensure accuracy, consistency, and safety in a unique global replication model.
Protein drinks, candies, muffins, soups, and breads may seem quite different on the surface, though they have something essential in common: they are all powder-based foods. But of course, they didn’t start out as powders. The wheat had to be milled, the sugar refined, and the soup ingredients dried and mixed. More often than not, powder-based foods are processed in large production centers far away from where raw ingredients were harvested. Blendhub is changing that.
Blendhub constructs portable powder blending factories. Housed in 40-foot containers, they can be deployed quickly, economically, and sustainably anywhere in the world. With Blendhub it is possible to safely produce powders from locally available foodstuffs for local markets, thereby empowering communities to capture more value from their harvests. The solution actively contributes to a circular economy and fosters long-term economic stability.
With Blendhub, we are creating a new system of shared value creation where there is accountability and transparency in all the transactions we do, everywhere in the world.
Advantages through proven technology
Blendhub has employed a Food as a Service model, which includes everything – from deployment of the hub to hiring the staff and all operations and maintenance activities. At the heart of Blendhub is technology from Siemens, which is ensuring that the company has the greatest impact possible.
Ingredients and recipes
Getting nutritious, affordable powder foods to market quickly is a complex task. It requires balancing cost, shelf life, and consumer preferences – all of which call for careful planning and collaboration. Blendhub assists its customers with these tasks through its Recipe as a Service model, which is based on a recipe management software from Siemens. The focus is on affordable food products using mainly locally available ingredients.
When it comes to creating new recipes, Blendhub uses the Opcenter Research, Development and Laboratory (RD&L) family of software products. The company’s creators can even create a Digital Twin of their formulas to evaluate numerous modifications before moving into real-life production. Among the benefits of Opcenter RD&L is the ability to bring new products to market faster without quality and safety risks. The next stage is to enhance Opcenter RD&L with cloud-based Teamcenter Specification Management, which will allow R&D employees to more easily manage product definitions and recipes (bills of process) and to share them with manufacturing, suppliers, and partners. Implementation of Teamcenter Specification Management is expected to open further business opportunities for Blendhub.
Trusted traceability and transparency
Consumers want to know where their food comes from – not any easy task with today’s generally complex and opaque value and supply chains. Trusted Traceability from Siemens gets the job done by digitally identifying and tracing the history, distribution, location, and application of a product. It becomes easier to access data and prove relevant product information for regulatory compliance as well as consumer safety.
From the Digital Twin to a global network of hubs
Before a hub is built, a Digital Twin is created to define and optimize the envisioned system, thus reducing the need for physical prototypes. Once constructed, the hubs themselves are powered by Siemens automation systems.
Total Integrated Automation (TIA) and Simatic HMI panels allow operators to easily monitor and control production in real-time. They get a clear picture of what’s happening in a hub and they can easily oversee various tasks, like ensuring ingredients are loaded, blended, and packed correctly.A further advantage of Siemens automation systems is that the hubs can be connected for remote monitoring and control. That lets managers oversee operations from a distance and optimize as needed.
Making a difference
From its beginnings in 2010, the partnership with Siemens has allowed Blendhub to scale up its concept. Today there are hubs in 6 countries with over 2,000 recipes available. What has made people at Blendhub proudest is the impact their solution is having on empowering local youth and underserved communities through nutrition projects.
April 2024
Contact: Eduard Marfà
A recipe to help children thrive
Children in developing countries often face malnutrition. Blendhub has developed food powder recipes that provide essential proteins and minerals along with a vitamin complex formulated to support children's cognitive development. Made with sustainably produced, locally sourced ingredients, it helps ensure that children can thrive.
Blendhub at Hanover Messe 2024
At the Siemens F&B Showcase display at the 2024 Hannover Messe, crackers made with grains processed in a Blendhub transportable factory are on offer. But it’s not any ordinary flour that was used for these crackers. The flour was produced from spent grains from beer processing. A circularity snack.