BISCUIT & COOKIE PRODUCTION
Control system upgrade brings new life to Maliban Biscuit Following a series of successful
Process control company, Promtek has recently completed a weighing system upgrade for Maliban Biscuit – a long-standing client and part of the Maliban Group in Sri Lanka. With a partnership spanning
approximately 15 years, Promtek was the obvious choice when Maliban Biscuit identified a need to modernise its original Promtek StoraWeigh 9000 system – a process control platform engineered to optimise bulk material handling operations – which was running on an aging real-time operating platform, whose hardware and software were becoming obsolete. The system upgrade was organised
into two core phases to ensure minimal disruption to operations. Phase one focused on the development and testing of the latest StoraWeigh 9000 process control technology and its InTime operating system – which was customised to meet Maliban’s specific technical requirements.
The platform provides operators with real-time visibility and manual control through high-resolution graphical human-machine interfaces (HMIs). A critical requirement for the Maliban project was that the system’s visual interface be an exact replica of the original due to operators relying heavily on specific colour cues to manage production flows. This required Promtek to tailor its standard HMI graphics – adjusting display colours from cyan to magenta, to maintain employee workflow continuity. Compatibility also presented a challenge due to the scripting language used in the legacy platform becoming obsolete. Promtek was able to engineer a set of automated scripts to translate the outdated codebase into a modern programming framework that preserved the existing functionality, while also aligning with the updated system.
factory acceptance tests the equipment was shipped to Sri Lanka for on-site installation and commissioning. Phase two of the project entailed
upgrading all the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) at the facility. A Promtek engineer supervised and implemented these upgrades to ensure seamless integration with the newly installed StoraWeigh 9000 system. The successful completion of the
project has provided Maliban with a robust technical foundation that has brought its control infrastructure up to date while also unlocking operational advantages – most notably, through enhanced remote access capabilities. With the new architecture in place, Promtek engineers are now able to connect to the system from anywhere in the world, enabling them to undertake real-time diagnostics, software updates and remote troubleshooting.
all the parts that touch the belt must be straight and level with gravity and with each other. While a properly designed conveyor will track straight and true, conditions are rarely, if ever perfect – temperature changes alone are enough to cause the belt to track one way or the other – so it is advisable to add some form of tracking to steel bake oven belts. Guide rollers offer the most basic solution
and come in two forms – fixed and spring- loaded. “Generally speaking, fixed guide rollers are not a good solution as they can wear down quickly, risking damage to the belt edge. Spring loaded guide rollers are less prone to wear and easily mounted to a conveyor frame. However, if either type is mounted closer to the drums than 10x the width of the belt, they will be incapable of correcting belt position and, sooner or later, will actually end up causing damage,” said Marko. He pointed to the IPCO Compact Belt Tracking (CBT) system as being able to provide a good solution when active tracking is required on an existing conveyor and a rebuild is not practical or desirable. “Previous
CBT models used a physical belt edge detector but the latest system employs an optical sensor instead, eliminating any contact with the belt edge and enabling increased tracking speed and precision,” he says. The optical sensor is able to continuously
monitor the position of the belt edge. Any deviation immediately triggers a corrective action to restore smooth, straight running. The tracking effect is achieved by tilting rollers that cause the belt to move laterally in the appropriate direction. The tracking system
18 • KENNEDY’S BAKERY PRODUCTION • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2025
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