A multinational food manufacturer had recently purchased an existing manufacturing plant and the staff quickly realized the custom batch software and HMI system were obsolete, causing them increased maintenance costs, wasted batches, and limited flexibility.
Challenge
The legacy system was aging, was no longer supported by the manufacturer, and did not comply with corporate standards. The custom-written batch system had no scheduling or historical tracking capabilities, and its inflexible nature was keeping the plant from making software programming changes for routine enhancements. Since the software was no longer supported, the client was at risk of incurring significant plant downtime.
Solution
Cybertrol implemented a solution that featured:
- FactoryTalk Batch software to provide operators with electronic batch reports and access to real-time data through tighter integration with the ERP system
- The ability to drive the batch schedule from the ERP system and to store all recipes in the ERP system
- FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI software to provide data analysis to business network users and plant operators
- FactoryTalk View Site Edition HMI software to provide production personnel with the capacity to set up control parameters such as agitator and transfer pump speeds
Results
The plant estimates it now saves at least one batch per month. Based on the plant’s newfound success, the client has already rolled out similar manufacturing intelligence solutions to other facilities.