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.

| April 11, 2023

E Tech Group Delivers Batch Controls for Meat Cultivation

Taking cells from livestock to grow meat in a lab might seem like science fiction, but E Tech Group is making these processes a reality. Alternative proteins and cultivated meat are the ethical, sustainable future of meat production, and require new innovations in automation technology and control system design. Cassy Gardner, Director of Operations, and Anees Chamarty, Lead Automation Engineer at E Tech Group, Life Sciences West, discussed their work to develop a scalable and sustainable solution for cultivated meat. The first-of-its-kind pilot plant is essentially growing meat in a lab, with the help of automation. “This is something that’s not been done before, so our clients are in a very innovative space,” said Gardner. “This made early involvement with the client imperative to reducing design changes throughout the course of the project. We really had to stay, from an automation perspective, in lockstep with the clients as they evolved what they were looking to accomplish from a process perspective,” said Gardner. Utilizing Control System Software that’s Accessible but Flexible To design, program and test the distributed control system (DCS) in about six months, E Tech Group needed a platform with an out-of-the-box solution, but one that was also flexible. E Tech Group turned to Rockwell Automation’s PlantPAx platform, which is known for its robust features and adaptability. It was a time- and cost-effective solution for this control system, as it needed to be highly customizable. In addition to a tight deadline and the need for flexibility, the project included some 1,100 individual I/O points. The PlantPAx process library helped with relatively easy and quick programming, and using module programming where the state machines were embedded also helped speed things along. “So at a high level, we deliver a code that’s reusable and scalable,” said Chamarty. Batch Processing Automation: System … Continued

| April 6, 2023

Data Analysis Disruptors in the Industrial Space

Adapt past the disruptors to realize benefits from industrial data analytics. Vice President of Business Development, Laurie Cavanaugh shared her insight and experience with Control Engineering for a webcast last spring in this partial transcript from the April 21, 2022, RCEP PDH webcast. Disruptors Can Slow Industrial Data Analysis Adoption The industrial data analytics course title says, “Just Enough,” but what is enough? Sometimes enough isn’t good enough because of some of disruptors to industrial automation. Back in the late ‘90s and the early aughts, it was difficult for those trying to sell computers into the industrial automation space. The user adoption just wasn’t there. People were afraid of technology. They didn’t have a computer in their home at that point, or were just getting into that. Fear of the unknown prevented full forward movement of the industrial automation space. There were generational barriers, but in just a 10-year time span from the late aughts until mid 2010s, what really disrupted that? What started changing the minds of end users in the industrial space? It was what they were doing outside of work. All of a sudden, users are starting to become a little bit bold, a little bit more creative and a little bit more demanding. Now, industrial users want the tech in every hand. They say, “I don’t understand why can’t I just go up to my human-machine interface (HMI) computer or my computer on my desk at work and key in a search and get 18 billion responses in less than one second.” Why Isn’t Machine History Available? The online shopping experience back in those days started a little bit slow, but then when people said, “Wow, I can really buy something online? Sure. I’ll give you my credit card information. I’ll tell you all sorts of … Continued

| April 6, 2023

Robotic and Palletizing Automation Solutions by E Tech Group

Below, you can take a visual tour of a complete upgrade to a palletizing and sorting conveyor, including a simulation of the complete solution, and a step-by-step breakdown of each facet of this robotic automation project. Automated End-of-Line Palletizing & AGV Solution The client came to us for help automating this process which was nearly 100% manual. The sortation conveyor you’ll see delivering boxes to each lane in this simulation and subsequent videos was the only existing automation. After that boxes were stacked manually on wooden pallets and all pallet handling was 100% manual as well. Manual pallet handling was this client’s #1 cause of recordable accidents. The above simulation was used as a proof of concept to look at various production rates to ensure that we would not encounter any constraints or collisions and to ensure proper operation prior to final design and build. Post project, this same model could be enhanced and used as a digital twin for training, real-time troubleshooting, and new product simulation purposes Infeed Singulator & Sortation Conveyor This video shows the robotics that sort cases to be sent to palletizing. The infeed sortation conveyors deliver completed cases to the appropriate palletizing lane to be palletized by the robotic cells. This is accomplished using bar code scanners that identify the product code (SKU) and then automatically route the box to the correct lane. Dual Palletizing Cell This video shows a palletizing cell designed to simultaneously stack 2 different product pallets. The total solution consists of 6 of these cells for a total production capacity of 12 pallets being produced simultaneously. These cells are fed by the infeed sortation conveyors that deliver finished cases to the appropriate lane for palletizing. The robotic cells run nearly continuously with the automated pallet change capability shown in a subsequent video. They have … Continued

| March 24, 2023

When Dealing with Obsolescence Becomes a Challenge

E Tech Group’s Group Engineering Manager, George Bruce, shares his insight in leading an extensive system upgrade over a weekend. A system integrator upgraded a decades-old obsolete system to a current high-speed system over a weekend. This article originally appeared in Control Engineering. Avoiding Obsolescence: Insights on E Tech Group’s Process: To upgrade and separate the equipment, five systems controlled by a central PLC needed to be migrated to either ControlLogix or CompactLogix and have all communication transitioned to Ethernet. The team needed to map the three decades of piecemeal undocumented upgrades that were currently keeping systems operational. The largest system consisted of a 17 slot PLC-5 rack and 12 hard wired drives, with a mix of 120V digital inputs/outputs and analog inputs. Automation & Control System Needs Upgraded, No Downtime Allowed E Tech Group automation engineers were contracted to update and replace obsolete hardware in a pickle plant. They knew that if the one centralized PLC-5 that controlled five systems responsible for over 50% of pickle production failed, they would be shutting down the entire plant to identify and fix the issue, leading the company to lose valuable time and revenue during peak production periods. To upgrade and separate the equipment, the five systems controlled by the central programmable logic controller (PLC) would need to be migrated and have all communication transitioned to Ethernet. A Piecemeal Automation System, Time Constraints & Michigan Weather Because there were a number of hurdles to take into consideration when beginning this upgrade, it took careful planning to ensure this project could be completed without disrupting production or extending the deadline. First, the team needed to map the three decades of piecemeal undocumented upgrades that were currently keeping systems operational. Second, understanding the facility used only fresh produce, and at certain times ran at … Continued