Food – Automation Group

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FoodAG Advantage Subscription: Swift Solutions for Unexpected Challenges

January 25, 2024

A major distributor of baked goods faced a critical issue when a power outage caused their bun seeder processor to fail early one morning. As AG Advantage customers, they promptly contacted our 24/7 support line for assistance. The AG Advantage plan offers a monthly subscription granting continuous access to our seasoned engineering team for automation support, ensuring a guaranteed response time within four hours. In less than 90 minutes, our service engineer arrived on-site, only to discover an irreversible failure in a legacy PLC. The absence of a direct spare ruled out a simple hardware replacement. The immediate response from the AG Advantage support team was crucial in initiating the troubleshooting process.

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FoodSpicing Up Success: A Flavorful Transformation in Spice Production by Leveraging Rockwell Automation Solutions

December 13, 2023

Our client, a prominent supplier and producer of culinary spices, faced a critical need to transition their facility's receiving and washing areas from a manual control setup to an automated control system. The challenge was to improve throughput, reduce cleaning and processing times, and establish visibility within these areas for ongoing enhancement. With the existing manual approach, the company encountered bottlenecks affecting operational efficiency, preventing them from reaching their production potential. This shift to automation was crucial not only for optimizing their processes but also for streamlining the overall workflow and paving the way for future advancements in their operations.

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FoodRising to the Occasion with System Integration Expertise and Dedication

December 8, 2023

Challenges in complex projects are inevitable, but the dedication to overcome challenges is what sets exceptional system integration firms apart. This case study highlights how Automation Group, an E Tech Group company, stepped in when another company was unable to fully execute a project. The case study underscores how Automation Group’s exceptional capabilities not only remedied the situation but also earned the trust of the client to support three additional projects to-date. The client, a major food distributor, needed to integrate a conveyor system with their pocket filler, vacuum filler, and steamer. Delays in the system deployment resulted from understaffed control support, incomplete project aspects, and equipment transfers from another facility. Plus, new conveyors had been installed by a different controls integrator. The client sought Automation Group’s help to create a clear project outline and overcome the project challenges.

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FoodTomato Peeler System Upgrade: Cutting Downtime, Boosting Efficiency

November 22, 2023

A prominent food manufacturing company specializing in tomato processing faced a significant challenge with their existing peeler system. The controls hardware was outdated, causing a higher risk of downtime, limited maintenance support, and poor controls performance and control network communications. The company needed to resolve these challenges and sought the support of Automation Group, an E Tech Group company. The food manufacturer chose Automation Group for their proven track record and expertise in control systems, ensuring a swift and successful automation project.

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FoodWarehouse Power-up: Elevating Efficiency by Modernizing Conveyor System Controls

November 17, 2023

Challenges arise when hardware and software become outdated. This was the case for a leading food manufacturer who needed modernized controls for their warehouse conveyor system. The existing Allen-Bradley PLC-5 hardware was obsolete and lacked modern communication protocol. The conveyor system also lacked HMIs to monitor processes, identify problems, and visualize data. Because of this, the customer sought the help of Automation Group, an E Tech Group company, to upgrade their Allen-Bradley PLC-5 to the latest Rockwell Automation ControlLogix L81E processor, integrate AVEVA InTouch HMI stations, and connect devices over an EtherNet/IP communication network.

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FoodAchieving Speed and Quality without Compromising Engineering Integrity

September 20, 2023

A major food manufacturer needed a system integrator to design and fabricate six control panels for their new production line. They chose Automation Group because of their expertise in building UL 508A control panels, ability to source hard-to-find parts, and capability to create alternative solutions to meet tight project deadlines. The customer needed a fast project execution and a customized solution with Automation Group’s streamlined panel build process leveraging AG5 project management methodology. Automation Group rose to the challenge, constructing six UL508A control panels with speed, quality, and engineering integrity to support the customer’s new production line.

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FoodWhy A Dedicated System Integration Team Should Be Your Next Hire

August 15, 2023

In the fast-paced world of food manufacturing, efficiency and precision are paramount for maintaining a competitive edge. When a major player in the food industry wanted to upgrade their packaging controls for flan and pudding products, they turned to the trusted engineering team at Automation Group. The packaging process required precise control and synchronization to maintain product quality and optimize packaging speed. However, the client's outdated controls system hindered their ability to meet growing production demands. The challenge was to develop an efficient controls solution that could be executed within a tight one-weekend timeframe and with minimal downtime. The project encompassed addressing outdated PLC and HMI systems, aging control panel hardware, and the need for improved networking communications.

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FoodModernizing an Almond Roasting Line After a Devastating Event

May 1, 2023

Fires are a devastating event for any business. It can result in the loss of equipment, inventory, and even the facility itself. The aftermath of a fire can be challenging for any company as it seeks to rebuild and return to business as usual. This case study highlights how Automation Group collaborated with an architectural engineering company to support an international almond supplier after a fire destroyed their roasting line. The project team worked together on a tight schedule to replace and upgrade the almond supplier’s roasting system, leveraging PLC, HMI, networking, and control panel expertise.

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FoodMajor SCADA and PLC Upgrade Increases Uptime and Lowers Maintenance Costs for Rice Milling Company

February 13, 2023

Complex upgrades require advanced expertise. Experienced system integrators will use a holistic approach to fully scope automation system upgrades and consider how the project’s complexities will impact the customer’s budget, uptime, timeline, or performance requirements. An example of this was a PLC-5 and SCADA application upgrade for a leading rice milling company. The company had an obsolete PLC-5 controlling their rice finishing line, in addition to an obsolete SCADA application controlling their entire facility. The legacy SCADA system was costly to keep operational, and the existing network caused communications issues between the customer’s production areas. The customer needed a new PLC program to be installed within a 48-hour timeframe to minimize production impacts, and the existing SCADA system needed to remain operational during the migration to Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform. Automation Group was engaged as the customer’s choice system integrator given their advanced expertise in system migration and the successful execution of projects at the customer’s other facilities.

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FoodAutomated Sterilization Process Increases Production Rates for Latin Food Products Supplier

January 13, 2023

A supplier of Latin food products was challenged to increase the efficiency of their canned goods sterilization process. Their goal was to move away from a manual sterilization process and move into the future with automation. The food products supplier engaged Automation Group to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and the flexibility of their operations given their in-depth experience in automating manual processes.

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FoodDesigning a Flexible and Scalable Automated Processing System for The Better Meat Co.

December 1, 2022

Many food processors create a proof of concept in several sizing stages before they build a full-scale processing facility. Designing an automated processing facility requires flexibility in the design and the ability to constantly improve the system with things discovered through research and development efforts. This is the story of how The Better Meat Co. partnered with Barnum Mechanical Inc. and Automation Group to design, build, and automate a full-scale processing system at The Better Meat Co.’s new mycoprotein fermentation facility in Sacramento, California. Industry partner Barnum Mechanical teamed up with Automation Group to support an expedited completion timeline.

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FoodPLC-5 to ControlLogix Migration Supports Greater Uptime for Global Spice Supplier

September 16, 2022

When is the best time to upgrade a decades-trusted PLC system? This was the challenge for a global supplier of spice ingredients. Their Allen Bradley PLC-5 system was commissioned over 25 years ago and, while it performed well for many years, the outdated platform began experiencing constraints. The obsolete equipment was limiting network connections. This urged the global spice supplier to seek a system integrator that could provide timely PLC migration support using the latest technology available. Automation Group was recruited to modernize their obsolete PLC system to a more IIOT friendly platform.

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FoodSix PLC-5 Migrations Over Holiday Weekend Supports Efficiency for Consumer-Packaged Goods Giant

September 9, 2022

From decreased productivity to system downtime, legacy equipment can pose many challenges to operational efficiency. This was the case for a leading consumer packaged goods company who was relying on PLC-5 hardware to control most of their facility. The plant recently experienced a major disruption during peak production because of a network switch failure, and it was later discovered that the disruption could have been minimized if the facility had been separated into multiple virtual local area networks (VLANs). To support the creation of VLANs, the customer’s existing PLC-5 control system would need to be upgraded to the ControlLogix system which could handle multiple independent Ethernet connections. Automation Group was called to support the project given their previous assistance with consolidating the company’s DH+ and ControlNet network communications in support of their industrial automation applications.

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FoodPlant Site Assessment Generates a Success Plan for Food Distributor Giant

August 2, 2022

With time, money, and resources on the line, site surveys act as a crucial first step to plan for maintenance, spare parts, upgrades, and mitigate the risk of unplanned downtime. This critical information was needed by a leading American food distributor to better understand the health of their plant’s automation infrastructure. Automation Group was engaged to thoroughly assess their automation hardware and operational technology (OT) networks and provide a comprehensive site assessment report. This report would clearly identify risks and opportunities as well as crucial steps to upgrade and strengthen their automation infrastructure.

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FoodIgnition Platform Supports Real-Time OEE Data and Performance Monitoring for International Almond Supplier

June 30, 2022

Production health is a synergy between availability, performance, and quality. Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is the gold standard to measure these metrics and can help identify early signs of production issues with modern software solutions. This was the challenge for a leading supplier of almond products who needed to find a better way to monitor the real-time efficiency of their lines as well as record production line problems as they occurred. The almond supplier also wanted to own this data and not rely on outside data hosting resources since these often limit extensive data archives. Automation Group was engaged to upgrade the almond supplier’s performance monitoring system given their experience with the platform, OEE, and database structures.

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FoodNew Storage Tank Process with CIP System Supports Olive Oil Production Expansion

May 31, 2022

Olive oil production relies on robust storage systems. Storage systems that have inadequate controls against light, heat, and oxygen exposure can compromise the freshness of olive oil products and result in considerable production loss for olive oil manufacturers. To combat this, olive oil companies commonly use temperature controlled and light-protected stainless steel tanks to safely store the olive oil until it’s ready to be bottled. Any mismatch in storage capacity to olive oil production presents a manufacturing bottleneck and loss of profits. For one of the largest olive oil producers in California, the ability to scale their business relied on a robust storage system to expand their olive oil processing capabilities. Industry partner Barnum Mechanical Inc. teamed up with Automation Group to support the company’s storage system needs.

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FoodMigrating a Legacy PLC Program to a Modern Controls Platform

March 10, 2022

The era of the PLC5 has come to an end. The controller that once served companies well for many years is now obsolete, resulting in costly aftermarket replacement parts, limited capabilities, and downtime challenges. For one of the world’s largest mozzarella cheese producers, the key challenge with their legacy Allen Bradley PLC5 control system centered around its limited memory capacity and, consequently, the inability to handle new data collection and documentation requirements by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The cheese producer was further challenged to find a system integrator that had technical expertise with the obsolete architecture to leverage their existing automation investment and determine their migration options. Specialized in this matter, Automation Group was engaged to plan and manage the migration to the ControlLogix platform.

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FoodSCADA Software Conversion Improves Operational Performance and Cross-functional Communication

February 14, 2022

Communication is an essential tool for operational efficiency. Poor communication across manufacturing departments and their control technology can result in production downtime, inferior product quality, unhappy customers, and ultimately the loss of focus as an industry leader. After all, a company’s expertise is their product and generally not control system communications. When one of the world’s largest almond processing companies became unsatisfied with their legacy SCADA system and its limited report capacity, Automation Group was called to action to support the conversion to a new SCADA system.

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FoodCulinary Oil Production Company Pivots to Automation Group After Competitor Dissatisfaction

January 31, 2022

Terminating a system integrator can be a difficult decision. From suboptimal performance to poor communication, unfulfilled promises from a failed partnership can be devastating to the project outcome and client-integrator relationship. For one of the world’s largest culinary oil production companies, poor communication and staffing issues with a large system integrator challenged the company to find a new partner for state-side support. Automation Group was given the opportunity to renew their trust in system integrator partnerships.

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FoodCSIA Methodology Streamlines Olive Oil Packaging Line Automation

December 14, 2021

Challenges in the packaging process can impact the ability to scale operations and can affect many aspects of a company’s product line such as quality, safety, product professionalism, and maintenance costs. Deploying automation solutions can help with these challenges and better streamline operations. When one of the top 4 olive oil companies in California recognized the costly operational challenges of their manual packaging process, automation was key to help them remain competitive.

Older Posts

FoodAG Advantage Subscription: Swift Solutions for Unexpected Challenges

FoodSpicing Up Success: A Flavorful Transformation in Spice Production by Leveraging Rockwell Automation Solutions

FoodRising to the Occasion with System Integration Expertise and Dedication

FoodTomato Peeler System Upgrade: Cutting Downtime, Boosting Efficiency

FoodWarehouse Power-up: Elevating Efficiency by Modernizing Conveyor System Controls

FoodAchieving Speed and Quality without Compromising Engineering Integrity

FoodWhy A Dedicated System Integration Team Should Be Your Next Hire

FoodModernizing an Almond Roasting Line After a Devastating Event

FoodMajor SCADA and PLC Upgrade Increases Uptime and Lowers Maintenance Costs for Rice Milling Company

FoodAutomated Sterilization Process Increases Production Rates for Latin Food Products Supplier

FoodDesigning a Flexible and Scalable Automated Processing System for The Better Meat Co.

FoodPLC-5 to ControlLogix Migration Supports Greater Uptime for Global Spice Supplier

FoodSix PLC-5 Migrations Over Holiday Weekend Supports Efficiency for Consumer-Packaged Goods Giant

FoodPlant Site Assessment Generates a Success Plan for Food Distributor Giant

FoodIgnition Platform Supports Real-Time OEE Data and Performance Monitoring for International Almond Supplier

FoodNew Storage Tank Process with CIP System Supports Olive Oil Production Expansion

FoodMigrating a Legacy PLC Program to a Modern Controls Platform

FoodSCADA Software Conversion Improves Operational Performance and Cross-functional Communication

FoodCulinary Oil Production Company Pivots to Automation Group After Competitor Dissatisfaction

FoodCSIA Methodology Streamlines Olive Oil Packaging Line Automation

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