Case Studies

Allen Bradley to Siemens PLC Programming Conversion

Posted in Food and Beverage, HMI and SCADA, Manufacturing Automation and Intelligence, Siemens PLC

Summary

DMC worked with a major confectionery producer to simplify a multiple PLC manufacturing system from a recently purchased plant into a system running efficiently on a single PLC.

Automated Ingredient Doser

Automated Ingredient Doser

Siemens S7-300 PLC

Siemens S7-300 PLC

Profibus DP Scanner Card for Allen-Bradley SLC 500

Profibus DP Scanner Card for Allen-Bradley SLC 500

Solution

When the customer purchased the plant, they inherited an inefficient PLC control system that was incompatible with their existing control standards.  DMC converted the controls from an Allen Bradley PLC system to a Siemens Step 7 PLC system.  DMC assisted the customer throughout the process, from hardware selection through deployment and debugging.  The system controls 4 mixers and an ingredient dosing system.  Ingredients are processed and delivered to each of the mixers in a fully automated process.  The new system controls device logic, recipe handling, batch management, and reporting in a single PLC.  This consolidation and conversion has significantly reduced the complexity of the system for both production and maintenance while reducing batch cycle time. 

Learn more about DMC's Siemens S7 PLC programming services.

Customer Benefits

  • Increases plant efficiency by reducing cycle time
  • Provides uniformity of hardware and software, conforming to the standards of the customer's other plants
  • Centrally automated system decreases labor costs by requiring fewer operators to run the multitude of machines
  • Ability to make process improvements due to production data collection and web based reporting system
  • Reduces hardware costs by utilizing exisitng PLC I/O racks while replacing main PLC.

Technologies

  • Siemens S7-317 PLC
  • Iconics Genesis32 v8
  • Kepware KEPServer V4
  • Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications
  • Molex Woodhead SST Profibus DP Scanner card for Allen-Bradley SLC 500