Packing Line Control System Upgrade Improves Diagnostics, Reduces Significant Downtime for Global Leader in the Baking Industry

The Situation

What do you do when your packing line is suffering increasing amounts of down time due to an outdated PLC, and your only manual is a marked-up paper printout from 1999? That’s exactly what happened to this customer – a global leader in the baking industry. Their original system included an obsolete Texas Instruments PLC, panel-mounted push buttons, and pilot lights that limited the amount of interaction between the system and the operators. Worse, they had no electrical schematics to help determine how the existing wiring was connected to their field devices. The only glimpse into how the production equipment ran was a 20-year-old Texas Instruments printout that was not only limited in scope, but also lacked the descriptions and modifications made to the enclosure over the years.

The Customer’s Need

These compounded problems resulted in an increased amount of downtime for their production schedule – all in an environment where uptime is critical for profitability. The customer needed an internal overhaul, but also needed to ensure minimal disruptions to the plant’s production so they could continue to meet their order commitments – no small feat. As the quirks and nuances of the existing system had accrued over the years, present-day operators were often left clueless about the status of the production lines. They needed a new system that wasn’t plagued by recurring motor faults without any proper indication of which was faulted, and one that provided an elegant way to reset the motors. Among the biggest challenges they faced was fitting the new system into an existing electrical enclosure. Thankfully, they turned to Tri Tech Automation for help.

The Tri Tech Solution

To minimize disruptions, Tri Tech worked with the customer to develop a three-day installation and startup plan. While keeping quality in mind and minimizing risk to production schedules, we decided to build and test the new control system panels 100% in-house and planned site visits in advance to avoid being rushed during installation. One major obstacle at the outset was fitting the new system into the customer’s existing electrical enclosure. As Tri Tech CAD Designer Jon Willi recalled, “While upgrading the existing panel in an extremely limited space, we also wanted to keep with our standards of quality and ensure the new system was easily maintained by plant’s maintenance team.” To overcome this, Tri Tech opted to use a wireway that was taller than normally used to save space on the panel itself.

Tri Tech eliminated the push buttons and pilot lights in order to provide the operators the insight necessary to optimize the performance of the packaging line. We provided a new 15” PanelView Plus 7 on the main control panel and used the ControlLogix PLC platform throughout the entire project. Tri Tech then designed custom-made back panels for the existing enclosure, eliminating the need to re-run every wire through every conduit. Senior Controls Engineer Rob Fenwick explained, “I did point-to-point wiring details to know where hundreds of miscellaneous marked and unmarked wires were landing. This helped eliminate motors and field devices that had been removed over the years so that we didn’t spend any unnecessary time and labor during the demolition and installation phase of commissioning.” This foresight and advanced planning alone ended up saving weeks of installation time.

The Results

Tri Tech successfully upgraded the customer’s obsolete control system and delivered the project in less than six months while minimizing production downtime. Due to our updated stocking program implemented during the Covid supply chain delays, Tri Tech was able to take advantage of our stock of HMIs and ControlLogix parts, which otherwise would have been up to a 220-day lead time. What’s more, our ability to use the existing enclosures saved hundreds of hours in installation time and minimized the impact on production by eliminating the need to re-run every conduit and reuse existing field wiring.

The new, updated system Tri Tech designed and built for the customer included a proper safety emergency stop system, visibility into system performance with FactoryTalk View ME on a PanelView, and a simple fault reset system that cleared the line’s faults painlessly so that production could resume in an efficient and timely fashion. Additionally, we created panel layouts and schematics for proper documentation of the new system. Tri Tech made such a good impression up front that it resulted in less worry and oversight for the customer: “We built so much trust with our customer that the key stakeholders felt confident enough to leave and let us finish install,” said Project Manager Clint Mix.

Of course, nothing speaks volumes more than the customer’s own words. Our primary contact, the Automation Controls Specialist, had this to say about Tri Tech at the end of the project: “I would like to express my gratitude for a job well done. The team at Tri Tech provided a quality installation, concise and understandable code, and a timely startup. We have had zero issues or complaints from the operation of this important obsolescence upgrade project. Thank you. I look forward to working with Tri Tech in the future.”