News & Knowledge

We’re your source for automation news. Keep up with the latest industry updates and E Tech employee spotlights, as well as tips and guidance from our manufacturing experts.  

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E Tech Group Team Member Featured on Odd Lots Podcast

E Tech Group Business Development Manager, Ryan Harlan was recently featured on Bloomberg’s podcast- Odd Lots. In the episode, Ryan explains how manufacturing advancements allow companies to produce additional varieties of snacks more easily. Upgrades in manufacturing to digitization, increased uptime, and efficiencies, and the ease to run small batches have influenced and affected the production of the multitude of snack flavors and options in today’s grocery stores. Want some Doritos? For years, you might have only been able to get one or two snack chip flavors. But right now on Amazon, you can find numerous varieties, from barbecue to nacho cheese, spicy sweet chili, or Late Night Loaded Taco. And this is really just scratching the surface. There are now dozens of flavors of Blue Diamond almonds, including blueberry, smokehouse, toasted coconut, sriracha, habanero BBQ, and wasabi and soy. So how did this happen? It turns out that some of it is a tech story. Thanks to breakthroughs in automation at both the plant and warehouse level, companies are able to create and ship more varieties than ever before. On this episode, we speak with Ryan Harlan, the director of business development at the E Tech Group, about the rapid changes in the industry over the last decade and how that turned into so many more consumer offerings.

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E Tech Group Engineering Manager Presenting in Plant Engineering Webcast

E Tech Group Engineering Manager, Steve Scheffler co-presented a Plant Engineering Webcast called: Motors and Drives: Are you advancing automation efficiencies with smarter components and systems? The presentation discussed how a more efficient motor in automation applications can help advance efficiency goals. A smarter variable frequency drive (VFD) also can add efficiency to automated implementations. Motion-control designs can help reduce friction. Don’t overlook overall system-level design for motion-control efficiencies that can advance energy savings, sustainability efforts, maintenance and realize other benefits. The learning objectives for this webcast are: Automation and engineering professionals can earn 1 Certified Professional Development Hour (PDH) upon successful completion of an exam. E Tech Group is committed to advancing the manufacturing industry through innovation in the automation sector. Our engineers and IT professionals always strive to further their professional development as well as the development of colleagues and partners via industry forums like these. To learn more about E Tech Group news and knowledges, visit our blog or browse our case studies.

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Optimize Your Data Historian by Working With a Systems Integrator

The automation of process manufacturing has seen explosive growth over the last 10 years and is only projected to follow the same trajectory for the foreseeable future. Manufacturing automation solutions are the driving force behind this sector’s growth, allowing companies to meet higher benchmarks including quality, consistency and throughput. More Automated Manufacturing, More Operational Data It stands to reason that the increased manufacturing volume will also increase associated byproducts, one of the most critical being operational data. Every piece of equipment within an automation system produces a continuous stream of data containing invaluable logistical information. The required collection, analysis and archival of this data is imperative to staying operational for the long-term. However, while the scope of data has proliferated, the roles requires to achieve these things manually are going unfilled. While the manufacturing sector has seen a small rebound since the pandemic, finding and retaining talent is still reported a main concern for companies. This leaves the industry in a severe deficit, requiring facilities to become more dependent than ever on technology to bridge the gap. Data Historians: Beyond Just Export and Archival Data historians have been in use for several decades, but their progression has played a part in the advancement of automation and systems capabilities. Where they originally had a limited scope of application, historians are now used across a number of industries, and now satisfy more than just data export and archival.  While still executing their originally designed function, historians have evolved to provide three key utilities: While today’s data historians are a tool for control system customization, the historian itself must be attuned first. Most historian solutions are not optimized right off the shelf for any one specific application, requiring customization to properly integrate and function with existing assets. It’s important to consult a qualified automation system integrator … Continued

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Designing a Flexible, Scalable Automated Processing System for The Better Meat Co.

The Better Meat Co. collaborated with E Tech Group and Barnum Mechanical Inc. to design, build and automate a full-scale processing system that has been successful in producing on-demand production and is scalable for future growth.

The Project: Turnkey Factory Automation for Mycoprotein Production

Food and beverage automation is changing, because so is the way we’re looking at industrial food production. The Better Meat Co. is a leader in the alternative protein movement. They produce a plant-based mycoprotein made by fermenting staple agricultural ingredients and minimally processing them into a dense protein that can be used in tandem with or instead of true meat. Their brand of alternative meat production touts:

  • Whole food with natural texture of animal meat
  • Complete amino acid profile
  • Sustainable production, ethical alternative
  • Cheaper than beef
  • Much smaller carbon footprint than raising traditional meat

The Better Meat Co. faced a quick turnaround to full-scale production once they cleared the necessary regulatory barriers. Knowing they would need a robust, foolproof automation system to achieve their goals, they partnered with E Tech Group and Barnum Mechanical Inc. to design, build, and automate a full-scale processing system at their new mycoprotein fermentation facility in Sacramento, California.

The Process: Build & Integrate a Custom Automated Fermentation System

The Better Meat Co. partnered with Barnum and E Tech Group to build a full-scale processing system from scratch. The project team assessed existing equipment and current system requirements, and collaborated with various stakeholders to best design the full-scale processing system, keeping alternative meat processing standards and scalable performance capabilities top-of-mind.

E Tech Group’s team leveraged their expertise in automated control systems and process design to create a custom solution. The project team accomplished a software redundant control system that was capable of developer remote access support, redundant databases, recipe controls, historic data logs, and interactive reports.

The system that Barnum and E Tech Group helped to build allows The Better Meat Co. to experiment simultaneously with different types of feedstocks so that they can sterilize different media to run different types of fermentations.

The Result: A Better Way to Process Proteins

The Better Meat Co. implemented an automated system, developed with the help of E Tech Group and Barnum Mechanical, which has been successful in producing its products on demand. The CEO of The Better Meat Co. endorsed the value of automation. The system has been reliable since its deployment and is scalable for future growth.

You can learn more about the automation process for this case study in this video interview with the Better Meat Co. CEO.

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Wonderware System Integrators: A Legacy Brand with New AVEVA Innovation

Even though Wonderware is now part of AVEVA, it still holds advantages for integrated control system design. In a world where industrial automation systems are increasingly complex, intricate and interconnected, automation software like Wonderware offers distinct features that make it a great choice for many of our clients. Its open architecture makes it an extremely flexible platform, which makes it easier to integrate existing equipment as well as future additions. It promotes standardization across the system, reducing complexity, maintenance and training. It also caters to a wide range of system types and sizes, meaning it’s adaptable and scalable. As system integrators supporting all AVEVA legacy brands, Wonderware’s security features, flexibility, user-friendliness, and advanced capabilities support present and future viability.