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Unitronics UniStream PLC Powers a Cloud-Connected Pizza Pickup System

Industry: Food Service Automation / Smart Food Logistics / Automated Pickup Systems

How to turn a heated food locker into an intelligent logistics node for modern food delivery, pickup, and franchise operations.

Summary

A hot pizza has a short window to reach the customer at its best. For a pizza franchise, that made the pickup cabinet a critical control point — not just a storage box.

Built around a Unitronics UniStream modular PLC, the automated pickup system combines precision heating, food presence detection, QR-secured access, and real-time cloud communication. The machine builder, Sterowniki.pl, transformed a conventional heated cabinet into an intelligent logistics node, giving the franchise tighter control over quality, handoff speed, and customer experience.

The Company

Sterowniki.pl is a Polish automation engineering company specializing in the design and implementation of control systems for industrial machines and processes.

Led by CEO Rafał Tutaj, the company focuses on compact, functionally rich automation solutions that emphasize ergonomics, diagnostics, process flexibility, and fault tolerance—particularly in small and medium-sized machines used in the food industry.

Sterowniki.pl typically assumes full responsibility for electrical design, PLC programming, safety logic, and commissioning, while collaborating with mechanical designers and assembly partners in modular OEM environments.

The Challenge: Bridging the Gap Between Pizza Oven and Customer

A pizza may be perfect when it leaves the oven, but the pickup process can quickly compromise quality. Waiting time, staff handoffs, delivery-driver congestion, and order mix-ups all create risk at the exact moment when the customer experience is being decided.

The franchise needed more than a standard heated cabinet.

It needed intelligence at the pickup point: compartment-level temperature control, food presence detection, QR-secured access, cloud synchronization, and clear guidance for kitchen staff. The engineering challenge was to build all of that into a compact automated unit that could be replicated across a growing franchise network.

The Solution: Cloud-Inside PLC for Smart Pickup

Architecture

The engineering team at Sterowniki.pl selected a Unitronics UniStream Cloud-inside PLC for its ability to combine local machine control, flexible I/O, and advanced communication in a compact architecture.

The PLC controls each storage level as an independent zone, using PT100 sensors for temperature feedback and dedicated I/O modules to manage heaters, presence detection, door-state inputs, signal lights, and electromagnetic door locks. This enables the system to heat only where needed, verify that an order has been staged, guide staff to the correct compartment, and release only the authorized door during pickup.

The mechanical design is deliberately simple and reliable. Once the PLC authorizes access, it triggers the electromagnetic strike. A spring mechanism then pushes the door outward, giving the customer or courier a clear visual indication of which compartment to open.

The result is a practical machine architecture for food-service OEMs: compact, repeatable, serviceable, and capable of supporting both local control and connected logistics.

Communication and Connectivity Architecture

The communication stack is the intelligence center of the unit.

The initial design considered REST API communication, but the final approach was optimized around a TCP/IP Client connection between the UniStream PLC and the remote ordering server. This provides a persistent, stateful communication link, allowing the pickup unit and the server to exchange real-time status information.

This matters because the server must know what is happening at the machine level. It needs to know whether a compartment is available, whether an order has been loaded, whether a door is closed, and whether temperature conditions are within range.

The PLC functions as an active node, exchanging data related to:

Compartment occupancy.
Temperature telemetry.
Door open / closed status.
Unit readiness.
Fault or exception conditions.
QR-based access requests.
Order pickup confirmation.

A QR code reader is integrated through serial communication modules. When a customer or delivery driver scans a code, the PLC captures the credential locally and coordinates the access request with the server. Once validated, the PLC releases the correct compartment.

This gives the franchise a more controlled fulfillment model. Orders can be staged, tracked, and released without requiring staff to manually identify customers or hand over food. For delivery drivers, the system supports faster pickup and better route efficiency. For customers, it enables a clean, contactless experience.

For OEMs and system integrators, the project highlights one of the strengths of the UniStream platform: the same PLC can handle machine control and advanced communication logic without requiring a separate gateway controller.

HMI—Secure and Virtual

The UniStream PLC used in this project is headless—but the same CPU runs the control logic and the virtual HMI application, both designed using UniLogic, Unitronics free development environment.

Via VNC, service teams can remotely access the system HMI to configure the unit, check status, support IP setup, and perform diagnostics.

Benefits / Results: Perfect Pizza, Contactless Pickup

The UniStream-based solution gives the franchise a connected, repeatable automation platform for modern food pickup logistics.

Improved food quality control
Individual temperature monitoring helps maintain product condition after baking, protecting the short quality window between oven and pickup.

Order-specific secure access
QR-based authentication ensures that customers and delivery drivers access only the compartment assigned to their order.

More efficient kitchen workflow
Kitchen-side signal lights guide staff to the correct compartment, reducing confusion and improving the handoff between food preparation and pickup.

Reduced energy waste
Presence detection allows the system to avoid unnecessary heating in empty compartments, supporting more efficient operation.

Real-time cloud synchronization
TCP/IP communication gives the remote server live visibility into compartment status, temperature, door state, and system readiness.

Compact, scalable machine architecture
The headless UniStream modular PLC provides control, communication, and diagnostics in a form factor suitable for franchise rollout.

Service-friendly remote access
VNC access allows technicians to view and support the PLC’s internal HMI without requiring a permanent local display.

Future-ready sustainability roadmap
A planned next phase includes reclaiming hot air from the pizza oven and redirecting it into the storage unit, reducing heater demand and improving total cost of ownership.

Conclusion

By using a Unitronics UniStream modular PLC, the machine builder transformed a heated pickup cabinet into a smart, cloud-connected food logistics system. The controller manages temperature, presence detection, secure access, door release, QR code reading, and server communication from one integrated platform.

For pizza franchises, the system protects product quality and improves pickup efficiency. For delivery-first food service operations, it creates a more controlled, automated handoff between kitchen staff, customers, and couriers. For OEMs and system integrators, it demonstrates how UniStream can serve as the technical foundation for compact, connected, scalable machines.

In a market where food quality, speed, contactless pickup, and cloud visibility are becoming operational requirements, this UniStream-based architecture offers a practical path from traditional storage to intelligent automated fulfillment.

“UniStream gave us the control platform we needed to connect the physical pickup unit with the digital ordering system. We could manage temperature, access, door control, QR scanning, and real-time server communication from one PLC architecture — without adding unnecessary hardware or complexity.”

—Rafał Tutaj, CEO at Sterowniki.pl