“Insta Factory”: a revolutionary mobile plant that takes local produce to the next level.

This mobile factory can reduce the transport of raw material to zero and transform the tomato into puree a few seconds after having collected it.

Description
The complexity associated with tomato processing lies in the time span in which it must process. The cultivation of the product is strongly subject to natural cycles and climatic variations. In the event of a hailstorm or a particularly rainy season, it is necessary to rethink the entire production.

“Insta Factory” contains all the parts necessary for tomato processing in a small format, but placing it close to the fields eliminates all intermediate and transport operations within the supply chain. It’s an attempt to minimize the industrial processes from washing through sterilization to evaporation, reproducing them on a smaller scale and bringing it down to essentials. The plant consists of two modules of nine meters each, transportable, which contain all the miniaturised machines. It is a self-contained and self-sufficient plant in terms of the use of water and energy and can connect with other plants located in different production sites.

Relevance
The solution and concept show an example of how certain flexibility and variation can be translated into new ways of manufacturing. The concept fits well with the conception of localism and the shortening of supply chains demanded by the green revolution, taking it to the extreme by applying the concept of zero miles. With external circumstances getting more volatile everywhere in the world, it is worth exploring ideas that push the boundaries of Industry 4.0 to the limit, making the mobile factory completely managed by a supervision system, remotely accessible and controllable.