Lessons of 2022 for manufacturers: conclusions
Lessons of 2022 for food industry manufacturers: flexibility, supplier diversification, relocation, energy independence.
2022 tested Ukrainian manufacturers for resilience like no previous year did. Logistics, power supply, staff, security — everything demanded solutions at once. We sum up the year from the viewpoint of an equipment manufacturer and share conclusions useful for the next season.
Flexibility became the main asset
Plants that entered the year with flexible lines got through it more easily. The ability to quickly reconfigure equipment for a different product or different packaging allowed them to react to changes in demand and raw-material disruptions. Rigid, narrowly specialised lines, on the contrary, stood idle when “their” product disappeared.
Technically, line flexibility is built in already at the design stage. It is adjustable conveyor speed via frequency converters, interchangeable working parts on quick-release fasteners, recipe profiles in the controller that store the settings for each product. Reconfiguring such a line from one SKU to another takes minutes, not a shift. 2022 finally proved that flexibility is not a luxury but a condition for survival. We wrote about how it is built into a design in the case study a snack line with 4 SKUs.
Supplier diversification
Dependence on a single component supplier cost dearly this year. The disruption of a single bearing or gearbox delivery stopped a whole line for weeks — while an analogue was sought, mounting seats were reworked or customs clearance was awaited. The conclusion our customers reached:
- Keep critical spare parts in stock for the key components.
- Have at least two certified suppliers for each item.
- Switch to locally available components where this does not harm quality.
- Standardise components across lines so spares are interchangeable.
Energy independence came to the fore
Power supply disruptions made energy the number one topic. Manufacturers began to count not only the cost of a kilowatt but also the line’s ability to survive an outage and restart quickly. Solutions with a soft start, a soft restart after a voltage sag and minimised peak currents became sought-after.
The starting current of an electric motor on a direct start is 5–7 times the rated one. When a line is powered by a generator of limited capacity, such a peak either overloads the generator or prevents the motor from spinning up at all. A frequency converter cuts the starting current to 1.5–2 times the rated value and makes the start controlled. So in 2022 frequency converters were installed not only for energy saving but for the very possibility of running a line from a backup source. Separately, customers asked for safe-stop logic: on a power loss the line should not “crash” chaotically but unload correctly, so that after power is restored work does not begin with collecting spilled product.
What we saw on 2022 projects
| Area | 2022 trend | Consequence for equipment |
|---|---|---|
| Flexibility | Multi-SKU lines | VFDs, recipe profiles |
| Supply | Local components | Component standardisation |
| Energy | Outage resilience | Soft start, minimal peaks |
| Logistics | Capacity relocation | Fast installation/dismantling |
| Staff | Operator shortage | Simpler control, automation |
Engineer’s tip. If you are planning a relocation or a new line, build in modularity from the very start. A line assembled from separate modules on quick-release connections can be dismantled and moved in days, not weeks. In 2022 this property proved critical for many plants.
Relocation and fast installation
A separate topic of the year was the relocation of production capacities. The request changed: customers ask not just for a line but for a line that can be quickly installed at a new site and, if needed, just as quickly moved. This raised the value of installation and dismantling services and of modular structures.
Technically, a “movable” line differs from a stationary one in several solutions. It is a sectional frame with flanged joints instead of a continuous welded frame, control components moved into separate cabinets, quick-release connections of pipelines and cables, marking of all connectors to a diagram. Such a line is disassembled into transport modules in one or two days and reassembled without on-site fitting. In 2022 we saw several times that the difference between a modular and an all-welded structure is the difference between a relocation in a week and in a month.
Staff and simpler control
A shortage of qualified operators forced a rethink of the equipment interface approach. A line that needs an experienced setter for a daily start-up became a bottleneck in 2022. The request shifted to simple control: a clear screen with a few modes, automatic coordination of section speeds, protection against typical operator errors.
Automating routine operations — flow coordination, dosing, accumulation before packaging — reduces dependence on staff qualification and frees people for quality control. This is not “replacing people with robots” but redistribution: simple, predictable work goes to automation, while complex work stays with the human. More industry material is under the tag manufacturing.
Conclusion
2022 taught manufacturers the main thing: resilience matters more than maximum efficiency in hothouse conditions. Flexible lines, diversified supply, energy independence and modularity are not trends but a new norm. Planning a modernisation or a new line with these lessons in mind? Get in touch — we will design a solution for the realities of your production.