CONTROL & AUTOMATION
MOM SOFTWARE
ABB
CONTINUOUS OPERATION EXCELLENCE
Food and beverage production is becoming
continuous to keep up with rising demands.
To maintain the flow of products and to make
sure there are low levels of waste, spoilage or
contamination inside a continuous system,
automation must be integrated into the
production line. Here Darcy Simonis, industry
network leader for ABB’s food and beverage
segment, showcases how producers can
implement continuous production.
Due to tight profit margins, success in
the food and beverage industry today
requires large capacities with low running
costs — making continuous production
a perfect fit. This system of production
allows manufacturers to better benefit from
economies of scale as the cost per item
drastically decreases as larger quantities are
produced.
Continuous systems have many benefits
over more traditional batch processes - the
major being consistency. As the product
is constantly flowing along the same
production line, there are no changes in
quality between batches. This constant
flow also requires less labor, as there is no
equipment downtime because every part of
the production line is in continuous use.
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PECM Issue 41
Even scheduled temporary downtime, which
isn’t caused by failure, requires equipment to
go through thorough cleaning regardless of
how much it has been used. In the food and beverage industry beverage,
soft drink production is the most prominent
section to have embraced continuous
production.
History of continuous production For example, in soft drink production
suspension conveyor lines can be used to
move bottles through different stages, such
as filling in an effort to prevent spillage from
the bottle’s main orifice.
The industrial revolution was the birthplace
of the concept of continuous production.
Powered machines allowed cotton mills to
reduce the number of steps needed to turn
raw material into finished products. How-ever,
without the necessary technology there was
only so much that they could automate.
Chemical and oil was the first modern
industry to truly use continuous production in
the early 19th century. This was only possible
thanks to great jumps in process control
technology that was developed to tackle in-
dustry specific problems.
Changing production in this way allowed
the industry to vastly improve its capacity
while reducing costs. Recent steps to improve
process control has seen greater levels of
automation devel-oped, lowering the barrier
of entry for all industries looking to engage in
continuous production.
Making sure that the bottles are all in line
when being transferred from the normal belt
to the suspension conveyor is a delicate task,
requiring multiple pieces of automation.
The bottles must travel on a belt that moves
at a variety of speeds to slowly spin the
bottles against one of the walls so that they
can be picked up by the suspension line.
This requires delicate motors and motor
control to ensure that the motors are at the
correct speed to prevent bottles from being
tipped over and clogging the production
lines. This method, though complicated, gives
outstanding control over the filling process
reducing waste.