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Challenge

After producing some of the world’s most famous and flavorful confections for many years, a Northern California candy manufacturer’s aging conveyor system was becoming old, noisy, and obsolete. The existing conveyor system, which had sorted and moved large volumes of product for over a decade, was a line shaft design and was beginning to degrade. The factory was in desperate need of a conveyor system modernization which would increase efficiency, decrease noise and minimize maintenance costs.

Solution

For this project, E Tech Group (AG) used Ignition industrial application software from Inductive Automation and an Allen Bradley controller. The technology for the new conveyor was DC roller controlled. DC rollers are quieter, more energy efficient, and can be controlled more precisely with the set-up of multiple zones per conveyor. This technology allows for a variety of new features to enhance overall operations and reduce wear and tear. As an example, multiple rollers can be started and stopped in sections, and can also start and stop on demand. This enables a more efficient workflow based on capacity and need.

The addition of Ignition Software provided increased visibility to the plant floor, as well as the ability to pull more data via the new Itoh Denki controller. It also enabled AG to create templates for the DC roller controllers which included running data, alarming data and controls.

The upgrade and modernization of the candy manufacturer’s old, outdated conveyor system helped improve overall operational efficiency and enhance the automation processes. AG was able to eliminate the manufacturer’s noisy, worn-out system and modernize their entire conveyor operation with added features that created a quieter operation, extended life, and reduced wear and tear

Quieter Conveyor

Upon installation of the new system, the candy manufacturer noticed an immediate reduction in noise during the operation of the conveyor system.

More Efficiency

With a 24V DC motor nestled inside each roller’s tube, the conveyor system achieved better accumulation (a higher run rate). They also had tighter control of product placement which increased overall efficiencies.

Reduced Maintenance

The old conveyors were always running and had a lot of moving parts that would get worn out and require servicing or replacement. Since the modernization project has been completed, the manufacturer has seen a significant decrease in all service and maintenance costs.

| October 4, 2021

How to Perform a Risk Assessment

– By Tony Schalk, Functional Safety Engineer (TÜV Rheinland), Automation Systems Engineer, E Technologies Sophisticated companies know that safety is a journey, not a destination. It is a part of their strategic and ongoing growth. As more and more companies look to implement safety programs, questions about budget, time, effort, and feasibility come into play. Larger companies may already employ a safety engineer or even a safety team, with well-established metrics and objectives each year. If you don’t fall into that category, don’t be discouraged. The most important thing you can do on any journey is to start. To begin your safety journey, you start with a risk assessment. In the United States, when an accident originates from machinery, the owner of the machine is responsible for the safety, not just the manufacturer of the machine. This means that if something happens, it’s technically your responsibility. If that doesn’t scare you, it should. The beauty of the risk assessment is that it is your education on what could happen with the machinery in your facility. What you choose to do with your newfound knowledge is up to you; however, in the immortal words of G.I. Joe, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” There are a few caveats. Although companies could self-perform their risk assessments, it isn’t a job that just anyone in your plant can do. A TÜV certification is needed, as well as an understanding of ISO 13849 or IEC 62061 standards. Anyone could pick up the standard and follow the process, but it’s hard to implement a standard and its many details if you’re new to safety. This is where having a safety professional can be very beneficial for efficiency’s sake. He or she can walk into a situation and quickly identify what needs to … Continued

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.

Learn More About E Tech Group’s Building Automation Services

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.

Learn More About E Tech Group’s Automation Services