Eurol factory automation

Eurol presented the following case to IACT:
The current factory has a collection of filling lines, mixing tanks and other equipment, all with their own brand and control systems. Some of the systems are connected, some are not, e.g. island mode or even manually operated. The end goal for Eurol is to have a fully automated factory where orders are processed automatically according to some parameters as lead time and priority. This means that orders have to be translated to the execution of recipes, and control the mixer tanks to blend the raw products to end product. When the mixer tanks are ready, the end product can be either stored or sent to the filling lines. The filling lines shall fill all sorts of plastic/metal flasks with the end product. The filling grade of the flasks shoul have a minimum level and a maximum deviation, to ensure the customer always gets a minimum amount of oil in their flasks.

The IACT solution:
After a period of analisys and research we proposed to handle this major project in small steps. One of the priorities during the design and implementation of the control systems was to keep the production disruption to a minimum. The first step was to get the control systems of all the filling lines to a certain technical level, so they could be incorporated in the future main control system. This already improved the accuracy and amount of waste products that where thrown away. After that we analysed the way operators are working with the systems in place, and built a brand new control system for one mixing tank. The next step was to build a control system for all mixers, and the transport to the filling lines or intermediate tanks. After that, lead times can be automatically calculated, priorities can be set to reschedule the mixing or filling and finally (preventive) maintenance can be incorporated in the calculation of lead time during, or even before, production.

Skills:

  • Siemens Step 7 (400/1200/1500 series) PLC software
  • C#/.NETcore/WPF Application, IACT standard software mixed with taylor made sollutions