Returning a Roll Coater Paint Line to Maximum Profitability
Our automation engineers expanded line capabilities and upgraded to state-of-the-art Siemens digital drive systems to support a leading steel company.
Project: Bring Existing Automation Tech Back Up to Specs
A leading steel company hired E Tech Group to expand their line’s capabilities to begin production of light gage steel, as well as increase throughput on existing operations by upgrading an existing roll coater paint line to return it to the OEM specs of 1600 fpm.
Solution: Evaluate and Optimize the Automated Equipment’s Capabilities
To accomplish this, E Tech group conducted an equipment audit to determine the failure rate and root causes, and conducted a tension study to determine the equipment’s limitations. This data was then used to improve the tension control on the line by monitoring tower operations and load cell closed loop tension regulators, then tuning them accordingly.
Our engineers also analyzed cable conduit versus using remote I/O, performed a safety study and implemented the study’s recommendations, and performed startup and commissioning services of the plant.
Results: Unmatched Line Speed, Way Less Downtime
This successful project installed a state-of-the-art Siemens digital drive system with new PLC, operator stations, and HMI. The result was a 33% increase in line speed; the line was returned to the maximum OEM-spec speed of 1600 fpm from 1200 fpm prior to the upgrade. Another result of the upgrade was a 50% reduction in electrical downtime. With the hardware and software installation complete, E Tech Group expanded the line’s capabilities to include the production of light gage steel.
As one the nation’s leading control system integrators, E Tech Group is a multifaceted automation company offering the best in process automation solutions to manufacturers across industries. E Tech Group has experience in the metals, chemical, machine building/OEM, pharmaceutical industries, and more. Our turnkey factory integration services provide clients with robust, cutting-edge control systems that adapt, scale and optimize your processes.
Helping a Food Manufacturer Grow Production Volume With Automation
Our engineers used Rockwell Automation technology to program process automation controllers, perform troubleshooting and upgrade support for a manufacturing expansion.
The Project: Accommodate and Integrate Processes for a Warehouse Expansion
E Tech Group completed a fast-track project for a 110,000-square-foot addition to an existing food processing facility for the company, a hummus and dip producer. The expansion included warehouse space, additional and renovated employee amenities and offices, as well as the installation of new processing, packaging and utility generation equipment.
E Tech Group was brought under contract to provide the programming of the Process Automation Controllers (PACs), HMI, Historian, and Recipe Management systems. The engineering team provided a solution consistent with the existing facility automation, which our engineers previously implemented, while improving I/O communications with the use of Ethernet/IP and valves with an AS-Interface.
The Solution: A Recipe for Scalable, Automated Success
Phase 2 of the project included automation and monitoring of the utilities, clean-in-place (CIP), cooking, ingredient preparation, garnish, mixing, and filling systems. This was a fast-track project, with the order being placed in December for on-site commissioning of the first systems to start in April the following year. All of the systems were designed, developed, and commissioned on time.
How we expanded production abilities with a scalable automation solution:
- The system was implemented using a redundant Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk View SE distributed HMI with six servers and fifteen clients.
- ACP ThinManager was used to provide the thin client solution.
- Seven Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PACs were used for providing monitoring and control of the equipment.
- The combined systems included approximately 1,500 I/O points with 136 drives.
Food and beverage automation, much like pharmaceutical automation, requires control systems that improve production speed and reduce failures and downtime. E Tech Group has continued to work closely with the client on many additional projects to give the company flexibility in its control system for batching of products.
Identified Challenges: Flexibility, Fine-Tuning and Further Integration
After Phase 2 was complete, E Tech Group automation engineers continued to work heavily with the client on general support requests or running certain equipment. If the client wanted to fine tune the process system with tasks such as changing the sequence, relocating equipment, or adding some functionality, they would typically call in, and we would quickly complete those tasks.
In the most recently-completed project, E Tech Group incorporated a new modified mixing system (MMS). A new pasteurization line was also added, which the client previously didn’t have on site. This MMS is connected to a pasteurization line which allows for some modifications and improvements to their production that couldn’t be done before.
The product coming out of the mixer is then heated to high temperatures for a certain amount of hold time and then it is rapidly cooled back down right before it goes into the fillers that package the hummus into a cup. This is done to eliminate pathogens and increase the shelf life of the product. This specifically helps with their organic products due to the restrictions around preservatives and additives for organic products by still allowing for a healthy shelf life.
The client is working to add flexibility into their production equipment, with the goal of eventually having this line dedicated to organic products. A current project we are working with the client on is to replace a manually-involved process for adding organic tahini to the mixing system. Currently it involves a manually-wheeled-around tote with non-permanent connections. It is being replaced with a dedicated tank, removing the need for manual actions with automation technology that also provides the ingredient at a larger scale.
The Results: Ongoing Growth Requires further Automation and Integration
In terms of technology on the more recent projects, they’re building off of most of the same hardware and software stacks that they were using in the previous effort.
The team at E Tech Group has worked with vendor prepackaged systems to ensure that they communicate with the existing control system and operate properly after installation. The vendor prepackaged systems will be expecting input from our systems, whether it is ingredients, water, chickpea paste, etc., then it will likely be sent to one of our pieces of equipment.
To have better data to maintain the highest quality control, the client has implemented FactoryTalk Historian and VantagePoint, allowing the company to monitor and report on process conditions such as pressure, temperature, status of hardware such as valves, and also process specific step and phase data. Having this information available allows the client to more easily troubleshoot situations when they arise as well as having a deeper insight as to what areas may be best to next upgrade or make modifications to further improve efficiency.
E Tech Group is proud to have been a part of helping the client grow production volume and product diversity while allowing the manufacturing line to retain flexibility. The food and beverage industry requires automated processes that ensure precision, consistency and scalability. E Tech Group’s breadth of experience in this industry keeps us poised to help industrial food producers stay competitive by increasing production capacity and quality with integrated control systems that provide end-to-end coverage for your processes.
Upgrading a Biotech Company’s Outdated Controls Platform
An American biotechnology company knew their legacy control systems were approaching end-of-life, making an upgrade essential for their site in California. E Tech Group provided several control system upgrades to their automated systems.
The Project: Resurrect an End-of-Life Control System
An American biotechnology company knew the truth – their vintage control systems were approaching end-of-life, making an upgrade essential for their site in California. Our client was grappling with key questions such as:
- Should we continue to perform piecemeal upgrades to our automated systems as needed?
- Is there a more strategic approach that will allow our control systems to meet current and future business needs?
- Can we do a custom control system upgrade that spans the entire facility in a cost-effective way and limit disruption of our manufacturing?
- How do we make sure stakeholders throughout the organization understand the risks of maintaining the current control systems as is?
- How can we ensure stakeholders see the value in a building-wide control system upgrade and integration?
- Will we need to switch to a different controls platform? If so, which one is the best fit for our automated processes?
The Challenge: Find the Right Teammates for the Controls Upgrade
The company recognized the issues they had with their aging systems, their own limited resources to dedicate to this evaluation, and the one thing they themselves could not do: have an outsider’s perspective with an industry-wide viewpoint.
The client made the decision to bring in that outsider perspective and partnered with E Tech Group for their controls platform retrofit. Our team of automation engineers brought with them 30+ years of biopharma experience, as well as knowledge of automation platforms and biotechnology systems. For a project of this importance, creating a strong partnership between client and consultant was crucial.
Our team included seasoned engineers who have experienced large-scale control system platform selection. We’ve also experienced conversion projects as owners and supported similar decisions for other biopharma clients as consultants. This allowed us to bring unique points of view to the project scope, coming in with an understanding of the specific needs of biotech automation.
The Solution: An Organized & Communicative Approach
E Tech Group and the client’s team went through a process of requirements definition and user group meetings with the company’s current and future site and global needs in mind. E Tech Group supported workshops with all of their stakeholders:
- Automation, Environmental Health & Safety
- Facilities/Maintenance
- Instrumentation
- IT
- Production/Manufacturing
- Process Engineering/Development
- Procurement/Finance
- Quality
To ensure the facility-wide control system improvements provided our client with the resources and ROI to continue to grow, our automation team brought several leading control system supply partners into the discussion.
The E Tech Group team challenged the biotechnology company to think beyond basic requirements from a technical and business perspective. Engaging the team together in workshops enabled cross-functional groups to learn about how others within the client’s company would be using the system. Our team was uniquely positioned to objectively facilitate an effective conversation and align their various perspectives through industry knowledge and expertise.
The Results: Collaboration Optimizes Project Design & Progress
At the conclusion of the process, multiple control system platform solutions were evaluated against the newly defined requirements – the team considered PLC/HMI and DCS-based systems and single-vendor/multi-vendor PLC/HMI platform options. E Tech Group worked with the internal stakeholders at the company to objectively evaluate the options and assess how the different platforms could best support the business needs.
In collaboration with our client, E Tech Group supported the development of a decision matrix to quantify the analysis of the different platforms. Additionally, we worked closely with the decision analysis team to develop financial and statistical models to help them determine the best option from a technical, financial and risk perspective.
Through this process, the stakeholders reached a unanimous decision on the future platform for the site. The client, E Tech Group and the control platform vendor continued to collaborate to develop the long-term roadmap to support the upgrade/conversion of the site to the new platform. The updated control system allows the client to optimize current operations as well as lay the ground work for them to reach future goals and industry benchmarks.
Automation Upgrades Lead to Financial Savings for Steel Industry Leader
A steel company came to E Tech Group for help with their cold mill line automation. Improvements to the client’s cold mill yielded measurable financial savings by reducing defects and improving the safety of their automated processes.
The Project: Utilize Automation to Increase Production & Decrease Downtime
E Tech Group was hired for a large project by a leading steel company to increase throughput and safety on the customer’s six-stand cold mill line. Additional project goals were to reduce head and tail off gage, reduce inner stand strip breaks, reduce electrical downtime, and improve safety.
The solution to the client’s goals would require creativity on the part of the system integrator and open communication with the steel company. E Tech Group worked closely with the client from start to finish on this targeted control system update.
Solution: Design & Implement an Automated System with End-to-End Coverage
E Tech Group conducted a mill drafting study to determine HP and speed limitations, reviewed the mill model, and set up proper procedures. E Tech Group control system engineers also conducted an equipment audit to determine the failure rate and root causes, and then began implementing the audit’s recommendations.
E Tech Group’s automation professionals implemented monitoring and tuning of the inner stand tension, MG set stand one custom 12 pulse drive to fit on existing gen base, screw down clutchless control, and regulated the voltage to the speed reg.
Additionally, a safety study was performed and the recommendations implemented. Installation, startup and commissioning were then performed.
Results: Improved Processes & Increased Production Capacity
This control system integration resulted in the client experiencing tangible results immediately upon implementation. This successful project proved the value of custom automation system upgrades:
- Reduced head and tail off-gage
- Reduced strip breaks, WR and BU roll wraps by 50%
- Improved strip shape
- Increased annual tonnage
- Reduced electrical downtime by 50%
This resulted in a quick ROI for the client, who now has an integrated control system that allows them to closely monitor processes on the cold mill to improve and ensure the quality of their products. E Tech Group’s automation solutions for metals clients employ strategic design and the best in automation technology today to keep manufacturers ahead of the competition curve, facilitating future growth and success.