Confectionery Process Automation and OEE Tracking

Apr 13

Project Drive

A leading chocolate manufacturer in Pennsylvania needed to upgrade and more fully automate one of their production lines. This coincided with an MES Upgrade and allowed the production line to be fully integrated into the production scheduling and other systems implemented as part of the MES project.

Solution

The production line upgraded during this project was partially automated with older PLC hardware and HMIs many years prior. As part of a push to implement a fully-integrated ERP and MES system at the plant, the automation on this line needed to be upgraded to modern hardware.

Existing PLC code was converted from existing Modicon and Symax logic to Siemens S7-1500 PLCs using TIA Portal. Each production area was scheduled for a single shift shutdown to perform cleaning while the PLC code was validated and commissioned. This included batch mixers, Buhler Refining units, and Buhler Conches. The automation process enabled the recipes for each of these pieces of equipment to be pushed down from Ignition as the product moved throughout the plant. Including automated scheduling of allergen flushes, this reduced the overall changeover time between product changes.

Other portions of the line including product stabilization and storage tanks were completely re-done, with new PLC hardware, logic, and HMI screens built to manage their operation. This included a route validation system for pumping chocolate from the conches to stabilization tanks, and from the stabilization tanks to storage tanks. This alerted operators if any valves were not in the correct position, pumps were faulted, or any other process conditions prevented pumping chocolate to the required destination.

This production line also included multiple pigging lines to flush out pipes after the bulk of the chocolate had been pumped. Ignition provided a full tracking system for the pigging operations including analytics on line pressure, temperature, and time to pig. This helped process engineers find the optimal settings for each type of chocolate and reduce the overall pigging times to increase plant production capability.

Benefits

Automation allowed recipes to be automatically pushed down to multiple pieces of equipment reducing manual operator intervention
Route Validation for pumping operations reduced operator input requirements to move chocolate throughout the facility
Operators were given work instructions for each recipe on the HMI at their workstation
Improved production capability through efficient scheduling, inventory management, and training
Provided process analytics tools not possible with the existing system including process dashboards across the plant