Combining packaging and production for food processing

The combination of packaging and production in a jam processing factory is practical and feasible.

In the area of ​​batch food processing applications, flexible formulation management becomes more and more important because the development of the market facilitates the production of smaller batches, which requires the operator to increase productivity. As a result, manufacturers are seeking more fluent production operations, and the integration of packaging production lines and processing operations becomes increasingly important.

The packaging production lines in food processing operations are often composed of various machines from different manufacturing plants, and there is often a lack of communication between manufacturing plants. At the Trailblazer Food Factory, a jam, jellies, and dessert manufacturing facility, a licensing agreement was signed in 1993 with McCormick & Schnicks restaurants, which greatly expanded the company's product range. In addition to processing jams and jellies, McCormic & Schnicks Jake's product range is also accepted, including clams, special sauces, and chocolate cakes.

With the expansion of the factory scale, the process flow is also more open. For food products, the formula used in mass production is not a simple composition table, but also contains information and instructions for each step in the process, from mixing to heating, to finished products.
The traditional automated recipe management system is mainly a database manager. The manager downloads the value table to a programmable controller (PLC). It manages the entire process in the order of data. For operators, managing each step is not easy. For example, in the case of a process run, the tank assembler management system is generally not allowed to pause midway, nor is it allowed to change recipes. In general, canned packages also do not support the transfer of products between processing stations. If a new formulation is produced for the first time, there is no facility to verify that the machine configuration is correct.

Therefore, Trailblazer Foods is looking for a more flexible recipe management approach that is not available with ready-to-use automation solutions. They invited Concept Systems to develop upgraded products that meet the factory's cooking and control. Concept's challenge is to find ways to retain the recipes of existing production processes while increasing product quality and productivity, and reducing costs and scrap rates.

Formulation solution

Trailblazer Foods' previous recipe management system relies on a recipe sheet written on paper, which specifies how much ingredients the operator should weigh and then cook it. Concept's approach, in addition to replacing the formula written on paper with an electronic system, also automates this process and attempts to further generalize the design to allow operators to define each step.
In the new system, operators can select and change cooking recipes by operating the graphical interface. Then, the recipe management system determines the composition ratio and uses the electronic scale to track the weight of each ingredient. The electronic scale of the system can be read out by the PLC. The PLC can run multiple recipes at the same time. After adopting the new operator interface control, the conversion time of the recipe is greatly shortened, and a chef can operate and monitor the entire process flow.

In this case, Trailblazer uses a PLC provided by Rockwell Automation. In addition to the customer's code, the control platform includes an Allen-Bradly ControlLogix PLC and the RSView SE man/machine interface system provided by Rockwell Software. Mr. Gurney said: “We developed a solution based on our customer's written recipe system and input their recipes into RSWiew. The software is connected to the operator interface. Trailblazer company has a variety of products, so we developed a customer formula. Managers, who make the operator interface system, use this interface to input batch information into the system, each step can take a series of options corresponding to the system, they can set each step, operate The staff can enter and confirm in steps, which is a very flexible interactive system.

The initial setup requires the input of a recipe and it is stored in a recipe table with a special number. The system will then process the path to be set, the selection and control procedures. Although certain process settings still require manual operations, such as material selection, some of the processes can be performed automatically when the steps are activated.

The advantages of the solution

Artificially intensive production systems involve too many operators, so companies that have traditionally been batch-processed can obtain the following benefits by installing a computerized control system:
· Shorter recipe conversion time
· The stability and quality of the products produced by a series of operators have been improved, and the technical level of operators has also increased;
· The mixing and processing of materials is automated, and cooking operators' productivity is improved.

Since Concept Systems has proposed improvements to the process, Trailblazer has used this advantage to achieve the above benefits.
However, each machine on the production line is produced by a different equipment manufacturer. As Mr. Gurney of Concept Systems explained, each machine has its own control system with different distinctions. Different control systems cannot communicate with each other or with each other. "Our goal is to make each system a set of configuration, so that each process flow of the packaging production line can be set automatically. For jam and jelly production, it is possible to use different processes."

Since Trailblazer's production and packaging are not completely packaged or matched, Control Systems has adopted an Ethernet network to connect the transmission system with the monitoring system that supports the mass production process. The network system uses EherNet/IP and is monitored by Allen-Bradley's ContrlLogix platform. Although some of the packaging machines are already connected to the system to achieve the minimum integration goal, the main part of the integrated system is achieved through the conveyor system. This system includes 25 Rockwell Powerflex 70 variable frequency drives, all of which can be coordinated.

In the production debugging process, it is advisable to adopt Ethernet, and Mr. Gurney said that Concept Systems has achieved great success in this area. “We know how to use the advantages of EtherNet/IP and have even applied it. At the level of remote I/O level, its greatest feature is reflected in the bandwidth, and the non-determinism of the network is no longer a problem. Another advantage is that it is easy to access various components and it is easier to maintain product performance, not to mention its price. Fieldbus components below ControlNet or Profitbus.

According to Mr. Gurney, the biggest benefit to Trailblazer after implementing this system is that it can shorten debugging setup time. In most cases, the debug settings are automatic. Another advantage is that it is not necessary to debug the set parameters, because in the process, it often leads to the loss of the product.

Source: Modern Packaging