Challenge
A supplier of Latin food products was challenged to increase the efficiency of their canned goods sterilization process. Their goal was to move away from a manual sterilization process and move into the future with automation. The food products supplier engaged E Tech Group to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and the flexibility of their operations given their in-depth experience in automating manual processes.
Solution
The first step was developing a solid system design. E Tech Group’s project team built the controls scheme from the ground up with considerations specific to the customer’s processing needs and sterilization standards. These considerations included hardware reliably, accurate instrumentation, and logical program flow.
The automated process design leveraged the customer’s existing controls and integrated new technologies. This included an Allen Bradley CompactLogix Controller, Flex IO Remote Rack, PanelView HMI, ABB Drives, safety monitoring relay, and instrumentation for high temperature environments. The detailed system design allowed for a smooth installation and commissioning of the project.
Results
E Tech Group staffed the project with subject matter experts in instrumentation, Ethernet-enabled devices, temperature control, safety equipment, and electrical design to support a successful execution. The project team designed, developed, tested, and commissioned the project in about six weeks and helped the customer reach their goal of increased efficiency. The automated sterilization process helped increase the customer’s production rates in comparison to their previous manual process, and provided enhanced data reporting to make informed production decisions. With the automated sterilization process in place, the customer is able to improve the productivity, accuracy, and flexibility of their operations.
Barnum Mechanical Inc. hosted an interview with the CEO of The Better Meat Co. to discuss how Barnum Mechanical and E Tech Group supported their new production facility.
Many food processors create a proof of concept in several sizing stages before they build a full-scale processing facility. Designing an automated processing facility requires flexibility in the design and the ability to constantly improve the system with things discovered through research and development efforts. This is the story of how The Better Meat Co. partnered with Barnum Mechanical Inc. and E Tech Group to design, build, and automate a full-scale processing system at The Better Meat Co.’s new mycoprotein fermentation facility in Sacramento, California. Industry partner Barnum Mechanical teamed up with E Tech Group to support an expedited completion timeline.
Solution
The Better Meat Co. needed a full-scale processing system built from the ground up. The first step was understanding The Better Meat Co.’s current laboratory operations and what they were expecting to do in the new industrial scoped system. The project team assessed existing equipment, 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. “We have never built a fermentation plant before, whereas Barnum and E Tech Group had.” explains Paul Shapiro, CEO of The Better Meat Co. “They had a lot of experience that was very helpful in informing the decisions that we would end up making. And many of these decisions I don’t think would have been so simple for us to figure out on our own . . . They were partners with us in helping us decide what type of a design we wanted in the first place.”
The project team leveraged their expertise in automated control systems and process design to create a custom solution. The project team connected new Allen Bradley ControlLogix PLCs to Inductive Automation’s Ignition HMI application and SCADA software over an Ethernet switch. During this phase, multiple experts from both engineering firms collaborated and programmed simultaneously. 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. All of this supported The Better Meat Co.’s ability to control efficiency, remain flexible to meet new production cycles, and make real-time, data-driven decisions.
“We need lots of flexibility and variability in our facility because everything that we’re doing on our pilot scale is designed to inform what we may do at our future fermentation facility. And so, we don’t want just one process that we could lock in here.” added Shapiro. “What we’ve done with Barnum and with E Tech Group is to create a plant that actually has a lot of flexibility in terms of what we’re able to do . . . The system that Barnum and E Tech Group helped to build allows us to experiment, simultaneously with different types of feedstocks so that we can sterilize different media in order to run different types of fermentations.”
In a few short months, the automated system was capable of successfully developing The Better Meat Co. products on demand. “. . . If you can afford to add automation, it’s a good idea to do it,” endorses Shapiro when asked his thoughts on the value of automation. To date, the new system continues to support The Better Meat Co. and has not experienced a technical outage since its deployment.
Barnum Mechanical and E Tech Group enjoyed the opportunity to partner on this project to deliver a flexible system that is scalable for The Better Meat Co.’s growing operations. To learn more about the project and the customer’s satisfaction, we welcome you to watch the interview with Paul Shapiro, CEO of The Better Meat Co.
Challenge
From decreased productivity to system downtime, legacy equipment can pose many challenges to operational efficiency. This was the case for a leading consumer packaged goods company who was relying on PLC-5 hardware to control most of their facility. The plant recently experienced a major disruption during peak production because of a network switch failure, and it was later discovered that the disruption could have been minimized if the facility had been separated into multiple virtual local area networks (VLANs). To support the creation of VLANs, the customer’s existing PLC-5 control system would need to be upgraded to the ControlLogix system which could handle multiple independent Ethernet connections. E Tech Group was called to support the project given their previous assistance with consolidating the company’s DH+ and ControlNet network communications in support of their industrial automation applications.
Solution
E Tech Group performed a comprehensive investigation to identify all PLC types and determine each PLC’s connection to other systems. After completing their analysis, E Tech Group presented which PLCs were deemed the most critical to upgrade and designed a VLAN separation plan to reduce the likelihood of connection loss given the vast amount of device communications. The customer’s personnel were initially surprised by the number of PLCs that needed to be upgraded to fulfill the VLAN implementation, which was about 21 PLCs. For the best implementation process, it was determined to perform the PLC upgrades in three phases with the first phase switching out the most critical PLCs.
Six PLC-5s needed to be upgraded in the first phase. E Tech Group considered several factors to include local and other server racks, a labor-saving conversion kit, the maintenance of other communications protocols, and ways to thoroughly test the success of the conversion. The customer also requested the migration and testing be completed within 72 hours. With these considerations in mind, E Tech Group worked closely with the customer to determine the best conversion process within the short timeframe. This included the use of only replacing local racks, using DH+/RIO and ControlNet communication modules to support existing networks, complete I/O list development, and spot testing plans. A PLC-5 to ControlLogix conversion tool was utilized to migrate logic from the old hardware to the new hardware, and all drivers were updated in the Wonderware system to allow for proper communication to the new PLCs. DH+/RIO ControlLogix cards were also used to connect into existing DH+ networks and allow ControlLogix PLCs to talk to existing PLC-5 Remote I/O racks.
Results
The project was commissioned on a Friday of a holiday weekend and was completed that Monday. Committed to the success of the project, E Tech Group had two teams supporting the project throughout the entire weekend in 12-hour shifts. In a few short days, E Tech Group was able to have the six PLCs successfully migrated by the customer’s requested timeframe and resolved numerous pre-existing issues within the logic by the time the PLC’s remote monitoring was completed. Using the knowledge gained during the first phase, the next two phases were completed with much smaller teams and the customer had the ability to improve their operational efficiency with a control system platform.
Challenge
With breakfast considered to be the most important meal of the day, restaurants must offer a well-rounded breakfast menu to stay competitive. For a global fast-food giant, launching budget-friendly breakfast smoothies as a new product line was essential to compete against other café chains that offered similar products but at a higher price point. The fast-food giant enlisted a leading developer of fruit-based products to help deliver the new product offering but the project required the creation of several new manufacturing lines with a focus on process control. The fruit solutions developer engaged E Tech Group for their reputable flexibility and process control expertise to complete the complex project within a tight timeline.
Solution
Time was limited to execute the new smoothie product line for the fast-food giant. The project involved the establishment of three new manufacturing lines across different states within a 90-day turnaround timeframe. Process control optimization was essential for effective line management as well as adhering to strict requirements related to sterilization, temperature-control, and product packaging specifications.
The E Tech Group team worked around the clock to design and build the control system which included Allen Bradley PLCs and Wonderware for HMI visualization software. The team also integrated advanced machinery to support the multi-gallon product packaging and box formation requirements. Furthermore, the E Tech Group team swiftly integrated valves, pipes, heaters, bag fillers, sterilization equipment, and other production components to enable the best process control applications and industrial process automation across the multiple manufacturing lines.
Results
The E Tech Group team executed the project within the tight timeline and the smoothie manufacturing process was seamless. With process control top-of-mind, E Tech Group was able to support the stability and efficiency of the new smoothie offering in addition to the expansion of the fast-food giant’s customer base with a new product line. Since the launch, smoothie products have become a staple in the fast-food giant’s breakfast menu and customers no longer need to travel to a second drive-through when they can find competitive offerings at their favorite fast-food giant.