Automation upgrade? It’s in the can
04 January 2012
A leading Swiss machine-builder serving the food and beverage sector has met the challenging time-to-market demands of its global customers thanks to the use of integrated safety and standard controllers from Rockwell Automation
Stackable and heat-resistant cans are essential elements in the packaging and long-term storage of beverages and foodstuffs. Ensuring a reliable and robust seal for cans of this type demands special machines – machines like those built by the well-established Swiss company, Ferrum AG, who supplies customers around the world. The company considers itself a leader in automatic can seaming machines, and it monitors the international markets closely for trends. In this way it is able to react flexibly and speedily to customers’ changing requirements.
Even though it has been used as a means of storing food for many decades, the can is as strong a contender for this market as it ever has been. As a practical container for drinks and foodstuffs, its long-term future is assured, and this is particularly the case for emerging markets. For example, there is high demand for milk powder in Asia and this is driving the requirement for seaming machines from exporting companies like Ferrum.
Ferrum’s machines seal round, two and three-part beverage and foodstuff containers in steel, aluminium, carton or plastic. The routes to market vary, but generally it supplies its machines to manufacturers who, in turn, supply the food and beverage producers with turnkey canning plants operating at speeds of up to 2,500 cans per minute.
Typical trends include the growing preference for aluminium cans because they are easily recycled and less energy is needed for their production compared with that for steel cans. And there is growing demand, too, for ‘convenience’ food products in ready-portioned sizes, which is setting a trend for smaller can formats.
Replacement and upgrade
Many of the seaming machines in current operation have now been running for more than thirty years and Ferrum is now experiencing an increasing replacement requirement among its existing customers. This opens up the possibility of raising the performance of these new machines by applying up-to-date technologies – particularly in the way they are automated and controlled.
Co-operation with suppliers of key systems and components is inevitable at this level. And since machines destined for the American market had Allen-Bradley products from Rockwell Automation already integrated, Ferrum decided to retain this automation supplier for the new and upgraded machine programme, as Ferrum’s electrical development manager, Martin Schurmann explains:
"Rockwell and Ferrum have been co-operating for more than ten years now, and we profit from the expertise they have gained in their domestic markets, which, in turn, offers us the chance to penetrate new markets. Being able to manufacture the equipment quickly and to the required standard gives us a huge advantage".
Indeed time-to-market pressures have forced Ferrum to reduce the delivery time for its machines – usually between 12 and 18 weeks, depending on the system - down to just eight weeks.
This poses a challenge in terms of procurement, fabrication, assembly and logistics. Moreover, customers now demand that their machines are capable of rapid adaptation to different can sizes with fast set-up times. On one can seaming machine, for example, Ferrum was able to reduce the time for a complete format change from six down to just two hours.
For Ferrum this means a lot of re-engineering. Its beverage seamers F700, F800 and F900 have all undergone this process, and the company’s F400 Series is now equipped with Allen-Bradley CompactLogix L32E Programmable Automation controllers (PACs) from Rockwell Automation, which have significantly improved the system performance.
In a recent pilot project for the American market, Ferrum chose the Allen-Bradley Compact GuardLogix L43S integrated safety and standard control platform from Rockwell Automation. Integrating both safety functions and standard control applications in a single device with the benefit of a standardised program environment offers the advantage of faster design and development.
As a constituent part of Rockwell’s ‘Integrated Architecture Solution’, these controllers use the same configuration, network and visualisation environment as the larger ControlLogix systems. As well as faster development, this has positive cost-saving implications for Ferrum, as Mr Schurmann further explains:
"Using the Allen-Bradley Compact GuardLogix controllers, with our medium-sized applications we can create an integrated control architecture. The Integrated Architecture Solution from Rockwell Automation is so scalable we can design our applications with a single control engine and a single development environment, irrespective of the size and complexity. For easier rotational speed control we use the Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700 variable speed drives. We regard them as state-of-the-art, economical and very well suited to these applications."
The controllers also support the Allen-Bradley CompactBlock Guard I/O modules and the Allen-Bradley POINT Guard I/O modules for EtherNet/IP, which facilitates a quicker system configuration and an improved interchange of information.
Allen-Bradley Compact GuardLogix controllers have been assessed up to Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL3) or Performance Level e (PL e) - the highest level for machine safety. If they are used together with the RSLogix 5000 v18 programming software, the Allen-Bradley Compact GuardLogix controllers can use add-on instructions (AOIs) with higher integrity, thus speeding up commissioning.
AOIs encapsulate the code of frequently required routines in finished and validated modules, which can conveniently be reused. This helps to save time and to reduce the probability of programming errors.
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