Feature SCADA & Data Acquisition
Supervisory control helps improve system redundancy
Parmareggio Unigrana has used Product4Automation’s low cost Movicon 11 SCADA to automate one of the creameries that has helped it become a major butter producer, as well as world famous for its cheese
production stages. They also measure operational and chemical parame- ters, which are mainly determined by temperature and the product’s micro- organic profile.
ith demand for the region’s butter soaring (up 22 per cent in 2011 to €35m) the decision was made to automate the Fiordalba creamery in Modena, to increase production, guarantee quality and ensure efficiency. The creamery’s systems design and installation was entrusted to I.T. Technologies Srl, a Movicon integrator that works extensively in the region. The plant, which was already partially controlled by Movicon equipment, was to be fully automated, including installation of a new SCADA (supervi- sory control and data acquisition) system. This would improve the system redundancy and add a quality certification capability.
W Butter production
Fresh cream is the raw material used for making Parmareggio butter. This comes directly from regional PDO dairies which themselves use automation sys- tems to guarantee security and quality. Close relationships are maintained with suppliers, often built up over decades, to ensure product integrity.
Plant and control
The entire production plant is con- trolled by a Movicon 11 SCADA system implemented on three Siemens S7 PLCs built into stainless steel control panels in a central con- trol room and connected via Ethernet. One PLC manages the pro- duction process system; the other two manage the CIP (cleaning in place) systems and the storage sys- tems. Together they guarantee maxi- mum security during the different
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Aboive: the entire Parmareggio
production plant is controlled by a Movicon 11 SCADA system
implemented on three Siemens S7 PLCs
The control system also includes a number of Movicon HMIs which can display pages for every process within the plant, covering critical parameters for quality, hygiene, productivity and maintenance.
Perfect hygiene
The control system also runs an auto- matic Clean-In-Place CIP system, which is fully integrated with the pro- duction processes and implements cleaning processes without any disas- sembling of the plant or its parts. The cleaning system ensures uni- form treatment of surfaces that have direct contact with product, while damage to mechanical parts is avoided.
Redundancy
Below: the HMI screen pages are all divided into two frames, one containing
operational sta- tuses, the other containing operational command sequences
The main control room also accommo- dates two additional PC stations, which run Windows 7 with Movicon 11 setup in a redundant configuration. Thanks to the redundancy system, the operating personnel have two worksta- tions. These can be used indepen- dently; for instance, an operator may be using the first to monitor a cream collection tank and start a cleaning process, while his colleague checks skimmer operations and prints out a product quality report.
Communication within the control system is based on Movicon S7-TCP
communication drivers, which collect and aggregate data in a Real Time Database residing on an MS SQL server. The production process is man- aged visually on the HMIs, from where instructions can also be sent. These instructions are collected on the data- base, no matter which HMI they come from. A predictive alarm management programme follows trends within the accumulating data to pre-empt mal- functions and provide step-by-step guidance on appropriate corrective/ maintenance procedures.
The system runs the plant in com- pliance to the FDA CFR21 part 11 reg- ulations. These are normally associated with pharmaceuticals pro- duction, but are also used for high quality food operations. They are designed to control access to plant and product to authorised personnel only. Movicon has a simple but very sophisticated user and command access management system explicitly designed to support the CFR21 Part 11 regulations. In addition to all the requirements defined by the user privileges (area and access level), the system manages ‘electronic signa- tures’ in reports and for historical data. This way, each significant action executed in the plant, such as commands or target parameter modi- fications can be traced back to an individual person. Audits are recorded in the database with encrypted access and can be docu- mented appropriately in reports. The creamery continued to run throughout the whole installation process, which was completed quickly and efficiently thanks to I.T. Technologies and the rapid design and configuration ability of the Movicon platform.
Parmareggio has achieved its target productivity rate and is set to maintain strong growth well into the future.
Products4Automation
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Enter 215 FEBRUARY 2013 Automation
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