A global supplier of agricultural commodities overhauled its control infrastructure and developed a template to replicate at other sites.
A global supplier of agricultural commodities overhauled its outdated control infrastructure at one U.S. facility. With the initiative, the company also developed a template to replicate at its other sites throughout North America.
A vital link in the producer-to-consumer food chain since the early 1900s, this goods producer grew and evolved, focusing on innovation and quick response to consumer food trends, while adding capabilities such as value-added processing, refining and milling.
At the Illinois facility, the company shifted from producing chicken feed to refining soybean oils for in-demand food products and healthier frying oils. The refinery made food products on the leading edge of consumer preferences, but the decades-old control system was a drag on operational efficiency. The company opted to bolster competitiveness by modernizing its control backbone.
The challenge
The Illinois facility runs multiple product recipes simultaneously and performs quick changeovers of production lines for flexible response to variable demand.
Unfortunately, the control hardware was approaching obsolescence. Operational data was unreliable. System reporting and analytics failed to support meaningful, actionable insights. Engineers and operators struggled with system alarms and interfaces. Maintaining the system was onerous because replacement parts were hard to find — and expensive when available.
With the replacement decision made the focus shifted to implementation, and establishing a model planned for use at other company locations as part of a ten-year digital transformation initiative.
This project was in the proverbial “sweet spot” for RoviSys, which brought more than three decades’ experience with control of batch production environments in food & beverage and other industries. The goods producer selected Rockwell Automation hardware and software for its control platform. RoviSys is a Rockwell Automation Platinum System Integrator Partner – the highest level of partnership within the Rockwell program.
A nine-month timeline was agreed upon. Commissioning coincided with the facility’s annual two-week maintenance shutdown. RoviSys dedicated six full-time engineers to bring the project to a successful conclusion.
Engineers defined project scope, goals and benchmarks as well as requirements and risks. The team drafted functional specifications and offered system recommendations, including use of Rockwell FactoryTalk Historian to capture real-time process and production data and Rockwell FactoryTalk Batch to reduce recipe management complexity.
Finalizing project parameters and details was a collaborative effort between RoviSys and the goods producer’s leadership and operations teams. With plans approved, coding and implementation began. RoviSys conducted factory acceptance testing (FAT) at its engineering office in Aurora, Ohio.
Engineers worked around the clock during the two-week installation. With existing wiring kept in place, the old controllers were replaced with eight Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controllers. Thorough recipe and phase testing followed.
The result
The complex implementation and start up was delivered on time and budget. The Rockwell platform fast-forwarded the facility control infrastructure into the Industry 4.0 era. With a Rockwell PlantPAx distributed control system (DCS), operators can make control decisions equipped with embedded alarms, high-performance graphics, SAMA diagrams, integrated HART and other technical features.
Exceeding expectations, since installation, production output has doubled and product quality improved. While the goods producer hoped to recoup its investment in six months, the company realized a return on investment (ROI) within three months. The result has served as a catalyst – and a model – for similar initiatives at other sites throughout North America.
