WAVE adopts AI controls to speed freeze dryer commissioning
Bottom line
WAVE Trockensysteme GmbH says it’s shifting control of its industrial freeze dryers to Brain, an AI-based control platform from Austrian automation company Interkey, replacing much of the conventional PLC programming and engineering workflow with a natural-language, simulation-first setup process. Interkey and WAVE describe the system as able to generate PLC logic, HMI screens, alarms, and PID loops from a plain-language description, then guide commissioning through auto-discovered I/O and a mobile setup app. On Interkey’s site, WAVE is identified as the launch customer, and the companies say commissioning on a production freeze dryer was reduced from what had been a multiweek or multi-month process to as little as day one in one pilot and from 12 weeks to two in another description of the deployment. (interkey.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is upstream manufacturing news, but it’s relevant because freeze-dried pet foods and treats remain a premium, growing format, and any tool that shortens equipment startup could help brands add capacity faster or launch products with less engineering overhead. WAVE actively markets freeze dryers for single-ingredient treats and complete raw meals, while FDA and AAFCO continue to emphasize that raw and freeze-dried raw products require careful food-safety controls because pathogen risks don’t disappear just because moisture is removed. Faster commissioning may improve speed to market, but it doesn’t reduce the need for validation, preventive controls, and labeling discipline. (wave.cc)
What to watch: Watch for whether WAVE expands Brain across more machines, whether Interkey publishes fuller case-study data, and whether pet food manufacturers treat AI controls as a way to scale without compromising process validation or safety documentation. (interkey.com)
WAVE Trockensysteme GmbH is rolling out an AI-based control system from Austrian company Interkey to run its industrial freeze dryers, a move both companies say could sharply reduce the time needed to commission new equipment. Instead of building controls through a traditional PLC engineering stack alone, Interkey’s Brain platform is positioned as a natural-language-driven system that can generate control logic, operator screens, alarms, and PID loops, then move that design into simulation and on-machine startup. (interkey.com)
The announcement lands as WAVE pushes deeper into food and pet food applications, including freeze-dried animal treats and raw meal formats. On its own site, WAVE markets freeze dryers for single-ingredient pet treats, highlighting long shelf life, scalable production, and high nutrient retention, and it has recently framed pet nutrition as a meaningful growth opportunity for freeze-drying manufacturers. That commercial backdrop helps explain why commissioning speed matters: equipment builders and processors alike are under pressure to shorten launch timelines without adding engineering headcount. (wave.cc)
Interkey’s public materials give the clearest picture of what changed. The company says Brain can take a plain-language machine description, generate the PLC program and HMI, simulate the control system before startup, and then assist with commissioning by auto-discovering I/O modules and guiding first power-on. In one customer testimonial on Interkey’s product site, WAVE says Brain built a working freeze-drying cycle from “a paragraph of plain English,” turning what had been “a full commissioning week” into a day-one result. Elsewhere on Interkey’s main site, the WAVE deployment is described more broadly as cutting commissioning from 12 weeks to two, suggesting the companies are using multiple benchmarks or phases to describe the improvement. (interkey.com)
There’s also a strategic relationship behind the technical story. Interkey says WAVE is its launch customer, and an Interkey investment page identifies WAVE CEO Moritz Marcovici as Interkey’s founder, while also describing WAVE as a customer for 100 freeze dryers. That overlap doesn’t negate the announcement, but it does matter contextually: this looks less like a standard vendor procurement and more like a vertically aligned product rollout between closely linked companies. For readers assessing the claim, that likely means the technology had a friendly first proving ground, but also that WAVE may be especially motivated to standardize it across future machine builds. (interkey.com)
Independent expert reaction specific to this deployment was limited in public sources, but WAVE’s own recent posts underscore a familiar industry pain point: freeze-drying performance depends heavily on early-stage setup, process definition, and the ability to translate R&D conditions into repeatable production. In that sense, the Interkey pitch lines up with a real operational bottleneck. Commissioning and controls work can be slow, specialized, and expensive, especially on equipment that must tightly coordinate temperature, pressure, vacuum, recipes, alarms, and traceability. (linkedin.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this isn’t a clinical development, but it could shape the supply side of premium pet nutrition. Freeze-dried treats and foods are attractive to pet parents because they’re shelf-stable, lightweight, and often marketed as minimally processed or single-ingredient. WAVE explicitly targets that market. But the category also sits in a complicated safety space: FDA regulates pet food under the animal food framework, FDA preventive-controls guidance specifically includes freeze-dried raw pet food as a relevant product type, and AAFCO and CDC continue to warn that raw pet foods, including freeze-dried forms, can pose risks to pets and people if pathogens are present. In practical terms, smarter controls could help manufacturers document, repeat, and troubleshoot processes more effectively, but veterinary teams should not assume that “AI-controlled” means inherently safer. Validation, sanitation, ingredient controls, and clear handling guidance still do the heavy lifting. (fda.gov)
There’s also a broader manufacturing implication. If WAVE can truly standardize a control stack that replaces months of custom PLC work with reusable, simulation-backed templates, smaller and mid-sized processors may find industrial freeze drying more accessible. That could lower barriers for new entrants in freeze-dried treats, toppers, and raw-adjacent formats. For veterinary professionals, more entrants can mean more product variety for pet parents, but also more variability in how rigorously companies manage food safety, nutritional adequacy, and quality systems. (interkey.com)
What to watch: The next signals will be whether WAVE publishes more concrete operating data, whether Brain moves beyond first-customer case studies into third-party deployments, and whether regulators or major manufacturers begin treating AI-assisted controls as a differentiator only when paired with auditable preventive-controls programs and validated production outcomes. (interkey.com)