CALSA (Compañía Argentina de Levaduras S.A.), a key subsidiary of the global AB Mauri group, is a leading producer of yeast and baking ingredients with a strong industrial footprint in Argentina and across Latin America. With over 100 years of expertise in fermentation technologies, CALSA serves both artisanal and large-scale bakeries. Operating major plants in Lanús and Tucumán, the company is committed to innovation and operational excellence, actively exploring Industrial IoT connectivity to modernize its processes. As part of its digital transformation, CALSA recognized Industrial IoT connectivity as a strategic lever to unify operations, enhance visibility, and stay competitive in a fast-evolving manufacturing landscape.
The Challenge of Achieving Industrial IoT Connectivity
CALSA, a key subsidiary of AB Mauri and one of the world’s leading yeast manufacturers, operates two major production plants in Argentina, Lanús and Tucumán. While each facility maintained high standards of quality and performance, they functioned independently, with data captured and stored locally in disparate systems. This created an operational bottleneck where leadership lacked unified, real-time visibility over production metrics, energy usage, and logistics performance across locations.
Critical data, ranging from machine output and line efficiency to fleet movement and power consumption, was either manually consolidated or not compared at all, leading to slow reaction times and missed opportunities for optimization. Without a centralized infrastructure, strategic decisions were based on incomplete or outdated information, complicating efforts to coordinate production, reduce energy waste, and streamline logistics. CALSA needed a scalable, non-intrusive digital solution that could connect legacy equipment, unify operational data, and enable dynamic, real-time oversight across plants.
The Solution
To solve CALSA’s operational fragmentation, Cloud Studio IoT implemented a robust multi-plant connectivity strategy through its Industrial IoT Platform. At the core of this solution was a lightweight software gateway that converted Modbus signals from CALSA’s existing PLCs into MQTT, enabling seamless cloud integration without requiring hardware replacements or complex reprogramming.
Once the platform was deployed across both the Lanús and Tucumán facilities, CALSA gained real-time visibility and control over its operations. The key components of the solution included:
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Production benchmarking between plants:
Real-time data from both locations allowed CALSA to compare production lines, identify bottlenecks, detect inefficiencies, and optimize processes based on data-driven insights. -
Energy monitoring and cost optimization:
Smart meters were installed on critical machines, providing detailed consumption data per asset. This helped CALSA reduce energy waste, prevent penalties, and improve overall energy efficiency through alert-based monitoring. -
Logistics traceability with GPS integration:
Vehicles transporting products between plants and to distribution centers were equipped with trackers, enabling full traceability and improved logistics coordination. -
Role-based dashboards and visual interfaces:
The platform offered tailored visualizations depending on user roles, whether plant technicians, supervisors, or executives, ensuring each level of the organization accessed the most relevant KPIs. -
IT infrastructure integration:
CALSA’s server rooms were also included in the monitoring environment, enabling centralized supervision of both operational technology and critical digital infrastructure.
Together, these capabilities formed a scalable and intelligent framework, setting the stage for continuous improvement and sustainable industrial digitalization.
Implementation Benefits
The deployment of the solution enabled CALSA to unlock several strategic advantages:
- Operational Unification: All plants now communicate through a centralized data infrastructure.
- Energy Optimization: Consumption tracking at machine-level allows identification of inefficiencies and prevents penalties on electric bills.
- Logistics Coordination: Real-time GPS data has improved fleet visibility and inter-plant coordination.
- Custom Visual Interfaces: From operators to executives, each role receives relevant KPIs through dedicated dashboards.
- Infrastructure Security: Including server rooms in monitoring workflows strengthens the resilience of critical systems.
Impact of Industrial IoT Connectivity on CALSA’s Operations
Results and Impact
Through the deployment of Cloud Studio’s IoT platform, CALSA has effectively transitioned from a traditionally siloed operation into a smart, connected, and scalable industrial model. The measurable results speak directly to both operational excellence and strategic value:
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Elimination of data silos:
By centralizing information from Lanús and Tucumán in the cloud, CALSA now operates with a unified data infrastructure. This enables cross-plant visibility and promotes collaboration between teams that previously worked with disconnected datasets. -
Accelerated and more informed decision-making:
Real-time dashboards and automated reports deliver critical KPIs and alerts to decision-makers at every level. From daily production oversight to long-term strategic planning, managers now act based on accurate and up-to-date information, reducing guesswork and reaction times. -
Advanced energy management capabilities:
With real-time energy consumption monitoring and deviation alerts, CALSA has gained control over one of its most significant cost drivers. This not only improves sustainability efforts but also prevents overcharges from utility providers by staying within contractual limits. -
Enhanced logistics and fleet coordination:
The integration of GPS tracking allows CALSA to follow its vehicle fleet across routes and plants in real time. This has reduced miscommunication, improved delivery accuracy, and helped streamline supply chain coordination across regions. -
Scalable innovation pipeline:
Perhaps most importantly, the implemented solution serves as a digital foundation for future growth. CALSA continues to identify new use cases, from predictive maintenance to automated quality controls—that are seamlessly added to the same platform, amplifying return on investment over time.
This transformation not only solved CALSA’s initial operational challenges but also positioned the company as a benchmark for digital innovation in industrial manufacturing within Latin America.
Conclusion
CALSA’s journey toward digital transformation is a clear demonstration of what’s possible when industrial expertise meets scalable, intelligent technology. By leveraging Cloud Studio’s IoT Platform, CALSA unified its operations across geographically dispersed plants, gained real-time control over critical processes, optimized energy usage, and significantly improved logistics coordination, all without disrupting existing infrastructure.
More than just a technological upgrade, this implementation laid the foundation for a culture of continuous improvement, data-driven decision-making, and strategic scalability. The platform didn’t just solve a problem, it became a long-term enabler of innovation and efficiency.
But CALSA’s success is not an isolated case. It reflects a broader opportunity across the manufacturing and process industries. Many organizations face similar challenges: siloed data, inefficient energy use, lack of operational visibility, and disconnected legacy systems. CALSA’s results prove that these obstacles can be overcome, not with massive capital investment, but with smart, modular solutions that adapt to each plant’s reality.
For companies in the food and beverage sector and beyond, this case sets a precedent: Industrial IoT is not just a buzzword, it’s a tangible, accessible path to achieving Industry 4.0 at scale.
