A specialty mozzarella cheese producer was expanding capacity at an existing facility for increased demand and needed an advanced state-of-the-art solution for automation and information systems.

Challenge

Process changes were made throughout the plant, from intake to packaging, all while needing to minimize plant shutdowns. The existing facility had a mix of legacy hardware, PLC-5s, SLCs, and RSView32 HMIs that needed to work with new equipment. The facility lacked PLC and HMI standards on current platforms. Shutdowns required many engineers to support equipment cut-ins and production support.

Solution

Cybertrol’s project solutions included:

• Establishment of plant standards on ControlLogix/FactoryTalk View SE
• Coordination with OEMs on plant standards and integration of OEM screens into the plant application
• Work with customer IT on SCADA server system requirements and installation/configuration of Rockwell SCADA software (View, Historian, VantagePoint, Transaction Manager)
• Configuration of electronic reports, including CIP, daily intake, and various production reports
• Flexible automation solutions to maintain legacy processes, temporary process configurations, and final expanded configuration throughout the project

Results

In addition to planned capacity improvements, the customer has greater visibility into the plant with electronic reports. The automation equipment and software has all been upgraded and is all current and supportable. Production impacts were minimized through the many phases and equipment cut-ins.