French Bread Pizza Line Application Story

Process and Data Automation (PDA) was tasked with ensuring the Frozen Food Manufacturing client’s plant line control system for the sauce kitchen and the pizza-making bulk assembly and packaging line would be ready in a very short “window of time”. That meant the sauce-making equipment, cheese shredders, bread slicers, ovens, conveyors, and freezers all had to work in concert. A retail line to produce panini sandwiches would soon follow so flexibility of the line was also very important.

SCOPE:

PDA provided the controls, electrical project management, system-wide supervisory controls automation, line integration engineering, line conveyance control, electrical & safety systems design, as well as complete control package development for an independent skid manufacturer to deliver a turnkey Pizza Sauce Mixing Skid. The client needed the production lines to adapt to technology advancements and fast change in the company’s product lineup. Additionally, PDA knew that when equipment is added one by one, and multiple vintages exist within the same system, it can make the system unreliable. Finally, PDA served as a liaison between the client project manager and multiple OEMs so the systems’ control room SCADA interface had a similar look and feel so employees would be comfortable working any
equipment on either line.

CLIENT:

A manufacturer of handheld frozen food items, the company develops and produces a wide variety of products for foodservice, contract and private label packaging.

INDICATIONS THE CLIENT HAD A NEED/OPPORTUNITY:

  • Client project manager was overwhelmed and lacked technical resources/support
  • No controls or electrical engineer on staff
  • Short project timeline
  • Plant engineers would have run the project with no overall consultant
  • Required oversight of Trades
  • Old facility being re-purposed
  • New electrical and communications infrastructure needed
  • Mix and match controls in processing and wanted to standardize to Allen Bradley (Rockwell)
  • New packaging line and processing line(s) being installed
  • Processing lines mixing new and used equipment
  • Needed new processing skid and distribution to processing lines

PROVIDED BY PDA:

PROJECT HARDWARE:

  • Main Supervisory Control Panel
  • Master Motor Control Panels
  • Remote Area & Line E-Stop
  • Control Stations

TECHNOLOGY:

  • Ethernet
  • DeviceNet
  • Rockwell Logix Control Platform
  • Rockwell PowerFlex VFDs
  • Rockwell Panelview+
  • Hirschmann Ethernet Switches

PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

  • Overall project & electrical management
  • Design communications infrastructure
  • Interface with and provide direct controls specifications with processing-side OEM’s
  • Management of project to design-build stand-alone skid manufacturer

AUTOMATION ENGINEERING, DIGITALIZATION AND DESIGN LABOR:

  • System final design as required by skid manufacturer
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Drawings as required for electrical installation
  • Supervisory system PLC programming
  • Supervisory system HMI programming
  • Startup and commissioning
  • Design & build equipment interface panels
  • Line safety control design
  • Installation instructions
  • Startup and commissioning