PET Food Processing - December 2018 - 64

OPERATIONS

Dryers are often
the largest energy
users in pet food
operations and
offer a significant
savings opportunity when fully
automated.
Bühler Aeroglide

to send purchase, production
and packaging orders down from
your enterprise resource planning (ERP) software,
to manage plant floor inventory and capture every transaction. The ability to integrate quality and maintenance
software exists. Why not tie it all together?"
Advancements in technology have helped make the
integration of different systems much easier. "Databases
and methodology are becoming more standardized,"
Tramp says. "And the integration of industrial PCs,
communication protocols and the speed of those protocols have made it less important today to have a certain
brand of automation throughout a plant. New industrialstyle components have modules which are hardware and
software combined that allow the communication from
machine to machine or from machine to umbrella software platforms to happen quickly and easily."
Stoll agrees that today's process control systems and
IIoT solutions are, for the most part, vendor agnostic.
"Typical PLC-type platforms can 'speak' over the open
platform communications (OPC) protocol. This protocol is universal across automation vendors. As for IIoT
platforms, the landscape changes daily but all these
platforms can communicate with most PLC platforms
and integrate with each other, with ERP and management execution systems (MES), with common representational state transfer (ReST) API's or open database
connections. Integration no matter what platform or
system you choose should not be a concern."
From a process control standpoint, many humanmachine-interface (HMI) packages now offer viewers
that enable supervisors and plant managers to view
automation controls remotely through either desktop
or mobile solutions. Even though technology exists to
control things remotely, most operations prefer actual
process control to be limited to view only from a safety
standpoint. "When it comes to data however, the sky is
the limit in what you can report, analyze and manipulate," Ensch says. "Advanced reporting packages can be
configured to produce and distribute production data as
well as provide real-time dashboards to see how a plant
is running from your home or wherever your business

PET FOOD PROCESSING | December 2018 | www.petfoodprocessing.net

takes you." The various solutions can be on-premise
or cloud-based.
Most plants have the
IT connectivity needed to
implement remote device
access. Stoll says security has
been a big concern as IT and operational technology (OT) come together. "Remote
connectivity, security, and personal device use are key
drivers for today's consumer driven environments.
Many modern systems can push data to the cloud or a
software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment to give end
users a contextual read-only view of a plant or line,
while maintaining complete security at the plant level.
We think this type of security segmentation will become
more common over time as the currency of having more
real-time data is realized."

Control considerations
When adding process controls and automation to a pet
food or treat processing facility, there are some important features to discuss with the supplier. "When evaluating equipment automation, the first question I would
ask is if the code is available," Tramp says. "Equipment
manufacturers and software suppliers may have some
part of the automation code blocked due to its uniqueness but 90% of the code should be open and available
for adjustments as necessary to someone who has the
proper software."
Tramp also recommends evaluating the operator safety
features inherent in the process controls. "Look for automation tied to key equipment access points and doors
that prevent the system from operating if those protocols
aren't met. There are a lot of different ways to handle that.
Wenger's approach is to electronically lock out the machine if all of the appropriate safety keys are not in place
and sending a signal to the system to verify that."
Another recommendation is to fully vet the supplier.
"System integrators and control system companies come
and go," says Jay Davis, business development, Repete,
Sussex, Wisconsin. "Ownership stability, financial viability
and a culture of innovation and re-investment are good
indicators of a provider's ability to be a reliable long-term
partner. It's a good idea to expect the provider to show
you proof of its long-term commitment to support older
systems, as well as its newest technology. Make sure that
the provider has good processes, people, and look closely
at its customer base."
By ensuring consistent product quality, a process control
system can reduce product waste. Gilles Maller, vice president, sales and international, Clextral, Tampa, Florida, says
a system that continuously monitors processing conditions

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PET Food Processing - December 2018

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