FrieslandCampina refreshes critical data strategy

Every manufacturing in FrieslandCampina faces the constant pressure of processing highly perishable milk-based goods. Even brief disruption to the key systems supporting production and distribution processes could cause these dairy products to spoil. To ensure maximum freshness, each location retains local control of its MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) and SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) solutions and production automation systems.

Unlike enterprise software, these manufacturing systems are highly specialized and they do not connect in a standardized manner. To ensure that each location was protected, different business units deployed a mix of backup and recovery solutions, each one offering a slightly different range of capabilities. While operationally successful, the backup architecture presented weaknesses, including complexity and a lack of granular security control.

Mohamed Asmine, Solution Architect, Hosting, at FrieslandCampina, says, “We are very focused on production continuity at multiple production locations across the globe. With so many backup and recovery solutions at each site, we had no easy way of making sure that all of our critical systems were completely backed up, or even knowing if we could recover all our data quickly.”

FrieslandCampina looked for ways to enhance data protection, backup and recovery capabilities, while enabling each production location to maintain full control over their production and manufacturing systems. To achieve this, the team targeted a new data strategy that would suit both large and small business units, offer greater security controls and reduce complexity - as well as providing greater resilience against cybersecurity threats.

FrieslandCampina teamed up with IBM Business Partner Axians to design its new data protection and back up strategy for all of its sites worldwide. With an extensive global reach, Axians had both the operational capability and local expertise required to support such a large-scale project. The aim was to ensure that all the MES, SCADA and production automation systems were fully protected using a streamlined solution that could deliver data resilience for every site.

Axians and FrieslandCampina selected IBM FlashSystem® storage combined with IBM HyperSwap® as the basis of the new standardized storage environment for each production location. Depending on the total data volumes at each site, Axians deploys two appropriately sized FlashSystem devices at separate locations. Using HyperSwap, the two FlashSystem arrays appear as a single storage facility, while in the background data is automatically sent to both systems. Even if one unit is not available, the other continues to provide full access. Backup is provided by IBM Storage Protect, which includes data compression to reduce total storage volumes, and enables fully automated archive and retrieve operations for files, directories, and disk images.

Offering granular access controls, the new architecture protects systems and data while also ensuring excellent governance. Moreover, the on-premises design means that the backup processes can continue to run even if the internet or connection to the corporate center fails. Thanks to this innovation, production systems can keep up with the constant inflow of fresh milk that requires immediate processing.

“The IBM solution design by Axians has transformed our data protection capabilities,” explains Mohamed Asmine. “The template-based approach enables Axians and FrieslandCampina to roll out the new solution to all locations rapidly and cost-effectively, selecting the relevant IBM FlashSystem model to deliver the correct capacity and performance. IBM HyperSwap provides resilience in case we suffer a fire, flood, or any other disaster at one of the locations, and IBM Storage Protect enables us to protect the data generated by our multiple MES, SCADA and production systems.”