Summary
Teoma has established itself over 24 years as a leader for automation and control services. With in-house engineering resources and a well-established team of industrial electricians, the company has the ability to take on unique projects facilitating outcomes from conception through to completion. The team was fortunate enough to partner with one of Australia’s large food production companies to deliver the hardware for a new dry batch system. A batching system as a basic concept facilitates automation for the measuring, weighing, and mix of products or ingredients. In this instance, the system will be put to work in an existing facility integrating with an already established food production line in Greater Melbourne. The purpose of this dry batch system is to increase facility automation and ensure quality through accuracy in the processes. This project utilised the engineering team, the panel build workshop and the onsite industrial electricians for project commissioning. Although this project is not the largest completed by the industrial team it demonstrates the in-house capability to see similar projects and panel builds entirely from initiation through to final on-site commissioning.
Project Overview
This project was designed to increase efficiency and ensure satisfactory quality control through the production process. As this project was being completed on behalf of a large manufacturer preparing food for human consumption, additional care was required to further ensure that nothing in the Teoma build would jeopardise the clients outcome. A typical dry batching system is designed to facilitate the large scale preparation and distribution of dry ingredients downstream for future processing. Fed by hopper or other delivery process, the system will be able to accurately measure and feed a product into the production line. By using a system like this as part of the manufacturing operation, the client has greater control over the production process and is able to make fine adjustments depending on changing conditions, including the instance of seasonal variations in product. A dry batch system can also allow for prompt reassignment of the manufacturing plant to another product line. This can be facilitated by simply having established pre-sets in the system for each product type. This functionality can be highly useful for contract manufacturing plants, bakeries, chemical facilities, pharmaceutical plants, and even heavy industry like concrete and aggregate preperation.
Key Project Stats
The client opted to go with a full stainless steel control cabinet, which was highly suitable for the environment on the production floor. The panel workshop began fitting out the panel, installing all mounting locations and running label control wires in preparation to receive the control hardware and also in preparation for the on-site installation. Control hardware was installed, consisting of 1 PLC with an 18 input/output expansion module. This fed 24 panel mounted VSDs, which will be utilised to control the batching process.
The build also included 9 direct online starters and 2 soft starts for further motor control. On completion of the panel fitout the team transported the panel to the site and installation commenced. The on-site team of industrial electricians facilitated installation, establishing feedback from existing and new sensors as part of the integration into the existing production line. By working with Teoma, the client removes a number of risks and is better able to ensure smooth project delivery by working with only one company for all services from initiation through the project completion.
Dry batch systems like this are becoming more common and are being utilised by a larger number of industries. The basic concept of a dry batch system can be applicable for manufacturers throughout the industry. Typically, similar to this installation, you will find a dry batch system being used for large scale food preparation. However, it is quite common to see dry batch systems being utilised in pharmaceuticals, industrial product and chemical preparation and even scaling up to bulk systems in cement plants and stock feed.
These systems range in size and typically integrate to feed an existing plant. Even small scale manufacturers can benefit from the operational efficiencies and quality control that a well prepared system can deliver. With the expansion of start up bakeries and explosion in topical pharmaceuticals, the industry is seeing a larger demand for batching control.
By automating batching, manufacturers are able to;
Although this project was for one of Australia’s largest food production companies, the principles and technology is something that our team has experience applying across all areas of manufacturing. With over 20 years experience, and full end to end project services, Teoma remains the go-to industrial automation and electrical partner. Call our team of professionals today to discuss your project and your unique operating requirements.
