The “Lindor” truffles from Lindt & Sprüngli are world-​renowned among chocolate lovers. These truffles have been sold since 1969, when they were introduced as a seasonal treat and they were used as actual decorations to hang on Christmas trees. Half a century later, billions of Lindor truffles are made every year. To produce at such a large scale while maintaining quality excellence, Lindt & Sprüngli runs several high-​end factories in Europe and the US.

Producing Lindor truffles is a complex process that spans from ensuring the quality of the cocoa beans, through manufacturing, to logistics. The production of Lindor truffles involves multiple production steps such as molding, filling, and packaging. While the overall production setups are consistent across factories, local differences in factory infrastructure, product variants, and machine age create challenges in finding the optimal parameter settings for obtaining perfect Lindor truffles. Additionally, seasonal variations in conditions like air humidity and ambient temperature play critical roles in the production process. Therefore, understanding the interplay between process parameters and environmental factors is essential to ensure consistently high quality – and that’s where EthonAI comes in.

Lindt & Sprüngli has a strong commitment to excellence that goes beyond the quality and taste of their products. “Our employees have vast knowledge that we use to improve our production.“says Jessica Valli, Program Manager for Digital Transformation in Operations, “to support them, we must provide them relevant facts and information.” For this, Lindt & Sprüngli records a lot of process and quality data. “We were looking for new ways to leverage it,” explains Valli. “For example, a recurring problem was to identify and eliminate the root causes behind quality deviations and inefficiencies in production. We were happy to learn that EthonAI could help us solve this important problem.”