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Company:
Location:
Flex Line Project: |
American Home Foods Flex Line
Milton, PA
$750,000 |
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Project Overview
The purpose of the American Home Foods (now ConAgra Brands) Flex Line project was to create a highly flexible and subsequently highly automated and integrated production line capable of batching, blending, cooking, and canning a huge variety of pasta and soup based products. The system was designed to be able to function, at the push of a button, as a fully functioning R&D line or to change over to a high speed production line. To deliver on these requirements, the project employed the use of S88 based batching concepts, flexible recipe and ingredient usage systems, configurable HMI stations, and a servo configured filling / canning line all based upon a stringent set of automation and integration standards. The project was delivered to exceed the requirement, on schedule and below budget.
Business Challenge
The challenge of this project was to be able to design within the “from R&D to High Speed and back” parameter requirements that the customer set forth. The solution needed to consider and accommodate the demands of new product development / R&D while still having the volume capacities and functionality to supply canning at 600+/minute. In addition, the needs of the plant required a full batch reporting, ingredient usage, throughput, and product tracking information system.
The Solution
A3 deployed a flexible solution to address each individual challenge defined in the project while still integrating all solutions seamlessly.
A robust and easy to use configurable recipe creation and maintenance system based on the Microsoft Visual Studio tool set and a central database. The recipe system allowed for ingredient addition and management to inventory and availability.
- A completely flexible and configurable PLC based batching and line control system. The batching system employed S88 based batching concepts to allow any ingredient to be delivered to any batch kettle within a tightly maintained queue system. All equipment and ingredients were recipe driven and sequenced at any time in the batch process.
- An intuitive HMI application for use by operator as well as maintenance personnel. The screens provided user specific “visibility” into the system depending on the user login. Operators, maintenance, supervisors, and system administrator users are all presented with their individual requirements and preferences for system use.
- The filling line equipment is equipped with servo based level adjustments that are close loop controlled based on integrated check weighment feedback. This integration allows for continuous control and adherence to fill weights and the meeting of label claims.
Technologies In Use
- Allen-Bradley 5/80E PLC’s
- Visual Basic HMI
- HiSpeed Checkweighers
- MicroMotion Flow Meters
- Various OEM Filling Equipment
Benefits
The benefits of the project are that the line has the flexibility and capability can run any sauce-based pasta or soup product SKU that the customer manufactures. The customer uses the line as a relief valve for the various dynamics that occur in production scheduling and end client demands. The line has the ability to convert from one product to another in minutes. The customer uses the Flex line as their primary R&D line to develop new product configurations.
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