On paper, the system looks simple: pizza bases with sauce go in, a cheese applicator deposits the cheese, and pizzas with cheese come out. A central role in this process is that of the operator, who manually checks the amount of cheese on a pizza. It turned out that this is not a very scientific process. Operators take a pizza from the conveyor belt, wipe off the cheese, and weigh how much of it was on the pizza. Then, they compare this weight to the recipe.

That is when we saw we could add intelligence and value to the process: help the operators to put the right amount of cheese on the pizzas in an easier and more precise way.

Engineering the system

Helping the operators with the right amount of cheese did mean our team needed to grow again with new roles to deliver the system.

We needed to include someone with a mechanical engineering background who could understand exactly how the machine works. That might sound simple, but a cheese applicator has a lot of different variables and parts that influence the actual amount of cheese that ends up on a pizza. To control the machine based on data, we had to understand all those parts and determine how they influence the outcome.

We also needed someone with experience in electronics on our team. In IT, we are used to plugging an ethernet cable into every appliance. With production machines, this is not always possible. To control production systems in a factory, you need to be able to communicate with machines using different protocols and connection types.

Another challenge is the topic of systems control: any time a system is influenced, there is a chance that it is pushed out of the stable equilibrium. So, we needed to take this effect in consideration and ensure that the stability is observed and managed. Systems control offers ways to avoid spiraling out of control. That means yet another skill in the team. All these different skillsets make it very important for the whole team to keep communicating and understanding each other.

The art of systems engineering

As you can imagine, building a system such as this is a big challenge. Every step brings new challenges to overcome. The key here is to not try to solve everything at the same time, but to keep taking small steps forward. If you try to solve all problems at once (“solving world hunger”), the process will typically grind to a halt. Most of the time, you must accept that not everything is perfect yet – and instead, focus on what is most important at that stage.

For example, instead of setting up a fully autonomous system – with all its complexities – right away, we started out with providing insights to the operator. This allowed them to discover the capabilities of the system, enabled us to learn and further improve the system, and helped to build trust overall.

In the end, designing and building a successful system is about making all the separate pieces – and all the people involved – work together to deliver a result. This means starting small, improving fast, and keeping the focus on adding business value. A systems engineering approach helps to keep everybody on the same page, create trust and understanding, and build the right solution using the right technology.