Challenge

Olive oil production relies on robust storage systems. Storage systems that have inadequate controls against light, heat, and oxygen exposure can compromise the freshness of olive oil products and result in considerable production loss for olive oil manufacturers. To combat this, olive oil companies commonly use temperature controlled and light-protected stainless steel tanks to safely store the olive oil until it’s ready to be bottled. Any mismatch in storage capacity to olive oil production presents a manufacturing bottleneck and loss of profits. For one of the largest olive oil producers in California, the ability to scale their business relied on a robust storage system to expand their olive oil processing capabilities. Industry partner Barnum Mechanical Inc. teamed up with E Tech Group to support the company’s storage system needs.

Solution

With the desire to expand their olive oil production, the customer needed a new storage tank farm with greater capacity. The project team assessed existing equipment, current system requirements, and collaborated with various stakeholders to best plan the storage tank system, keeping safety, maintenance processes, and future expansion capabilities top-of-mind. The team interfaced Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PLCs with Wonderware software to support a high-performance control platform with intuitive process visualization. An ifm Actuator Sensor Interface (AS-i) networking solution was designed and integrated in the PLC to simplify wiring efforts with various storage system sensors and save significant time during the installation process, notably as an alternative to conventional point-to-point wiring. Additionally, at the time of this project, it was believed that the team created the largest AS-i network in North America given the extensive networking applications needed for the customer’s large industrial environment.

The team also integrated a Clean-In Place (CIP) system in the controls engineering design to better support production uptime, product quality, employee safety, and cost-effective maintenance. The CIP system provided an automated method to clean interior surfaces of the process equipment without having to disassemble the system for future cleanings. The CIP system was integrated with all storage tanks and transfers to each tank from the olive oil extraction process.

Result  

The project and process were a complete success. The customer was able to sufficiently store their increased production of olive oil and then some. The project team was thrilled to have the opportunity to support the new storage tank system and optimize their process environment with a CIP system. With the greater storage capacity, the customer was able expand their product into new geographies and gain greater market share.