AUTOMATION Beyond the bits and bytes solutions from the bottom up

Rockwell Automation is a leading global provider of automation power, control and information solutions. It helps all sorts of manufacturers to achieve a competitive edge for their businesses. The very essence of the way Rockwell conducts its business is as a partnership with the customer so the latter is able to gain far more benefit than simply installing the grey boxes and keeping their fingers crossed that bottom line benefit will ensue. We take a look at its latest integrated suite of software called Factory Talk which sits above those grey boxes.

The grey Allen Bradley Roger Putman By boxes in an exhibition display.

rom 1919 Fmade a fortune from truck axle bearings and spawned an international conglomerate which still bears his name. In 1967 he merged with (the makers of the WWII P-51 Mustang and Korean War F-86 The Rockwell Sabre fighters as well as Apollo spacecraft) and went on to produce offering bridges the Space Shuttle, the long range B1 the gap between bomber and most of the world’s the automated global positioning satellites. After his death in 1978, plant and the started a long series of spin offs and enterprise system. finally split itself into two ERP installations independent companies, , makers of avionic equipment are now dropping and Rockwell Automation. down the top ten Back to Milwaukee in 1903, of IT purchases Stanton Allen and set up the Compression Rheostat Co now that most making crane controllers. The businesses have company changed its name to Allen- them and specific Bradley in 1909 and became a household name in industrial control manufacturing and electrical components. It was packages are acquired by Rockwell in 1985 for becoming more $1.6billion and Milwaukee is still the HQ for Rockwell Automation which popular in order turned $5.6 billion in 2006 with to get more out of 20,000 employees and is operating in existing assets. over 80 countries. “That’s an awful lot of grey boxes highly tailorable suite of software Sharing expertise with Allen-Bradley on the side,” said with fantastic user graphics which There is a whole host of suppliers in Tim Dudley, who is manager at the will sit between the pipework and this management execution systems Global Food and Beverage PLCs and the Enterprise system (MES) arena but what makes Competency Centre based at the UK (ERP). The Enterprise Resources Rockwell special is the way that HQ in Milton Keynes. While Allen Planning systems are used to plan and expertise is shared across many Bradley PLC equipment is well report on operations at a high level different industrial experiences and known in the brewing industry for perhaps across many plants. As well that the Food and Beverage Centre controlling and recovering data from as plugging this gap, the challenge is has a team of four brewmasters with a valves, slides, pumps, thermometers to solve the problem of a lack of total of 123 years before the mash tun and a host of other items which make timely information to make informed to help users to garner the maximum up essential brewery hardware these business decisions and the lack of savings of an automation and MES days, Rockwell provides a good deal unifying information across the entire spend. Ray Zimmermann was with more than that. It has developed a business. Anheuser Busch for 23 years,

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Some of the Rockwell Weihenstephan-trained Gary Luther Automation team at did 30 years with Miller, Arjen de Brau last year. Tim Niet was with Heineken for 40 years Dudley, Roy and Niels Ole Olsen with Carlsberg Zimmermann, Gary for 30. Luther and Mike “These guys obviously speak the Jamieson (who has language of the industry,” explained since left Rockwell) Dudley. “The brewmaster might see standing in front of the automation reducing his previous unmanned automated power over the process and might cocktail bar which even believe his expertise will no shows order taking through to delivery with longer be required. Not very a full traceability motivating, when there are certificate. They even tremendous opportunities to tune any received an order for new system. Automation does not two dozen of these replace the brewmaster, it should help machines after its last the brewmaster. Treat the MES suite outing but sadly the unit as another assistant but one with all is a prototype only for the answers on tap without delay and demonstration and is manage him to deliver more! not for sale! “Having said that, the brewmaster should not feel threatened by automation, but he will be if he fails to take full advantage of it. We believe we can unlock latent capacity, after all the brewmaster is often more comfortable bidding for a bank of new fermenters when perhaps an investment of a tenth of the cost in automation and information gathering will allow faster and more flexible vessel turnaround to get more out of existing assets. Furthermore our team do not only talk to the brewers but are equally at home with the language of the finance, quality and HR. These experts capture the knowledge of all our customers which they assist. How many companies themselves consider how to pass on the expertise of their own operations as individuals ‘retire’? This Management Assessment and Planning process operates under the watchwords of Listen, Think, Solve Ð three words which sum up our approach and are prominent on all our promotional material.”

Unlocking the benefits Rockwell has the technology to automate plants but believe users need more help to unlock the benefits with improvements in yield, capacity and cost savings. Hence the investment yields a better return than if it was a purely IT driven installation. A key industrial outcome Want to know in a very competitive world says more? Dudley. Rockwell has four separate applications divisions but the key is To learn more about Rockwell that they each talk to one another to Automation products, readers share novel ideas. Beverage includes should call Michel Huy on ++33 wine, soft drinks and brewing is a big 388 5686 94 or E-mail: part of the sector under Dudley. It [email protected] does not just interact with the breweries but with consultants,

The BREWER & DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL ¥ Volume 3 ¥ Issue 8 ¥ August 2007 ¥ www.ibd.org.uk 24 control panel design companies and cascading schedules of work into the an accident on the M6 motorway or suppliers particularly of packaging plant. Perhaps with many plants to the late skimming of a yeast only lines (Krones, KHS and Sidel) on the look after, ERP has little used in a few brands, can it next generation of facilities which optimisation capability involving the quarantine batches if any QC will aim to nudge efficiencies towards order of processing beers (light standards are not met? Then of 100% but with increasing flexibility before dark etc), maximising vessel course the manager will want to play for size and brand changeovers. Such utilisation by avoiding having one around with ‘what if’modeling to a technical partnership ensures full half empty and one half full test his ideas of sweating his assets. compatibility and consistency for maturation tank of each quality, The power of a system is how spares. increasing packaging line utilisation effectively they are integrated; In addition to Food and Beverage, by not packaging every SKU every seamless linkages make the whole there are Life Sciences, Health and day, using the best before date on the business more efficient so that the Beauty and Automotive. You might diminishing stock and even tailoring ‘islands of automation’of a host of think these groups are rather specific stocks to the age different legacy systems can be disparate and have little to do with requirements of individual weaved together provided of course brewing but car manufacturing lines customers. Either the ERP or the they are of a reasonably modern have superb track side graphics, scheduling software hold the recipes vintage and written with open pharmaceuticals have been managing (bill of materials in computerspeak) architectural considerations in mind “To summarise lot tracking for a lot longer than we to plan replenishment of Ð which is computerspeak for how the challenges have and others are far more consumables from malt and sugar easily they can talk to one another. discussed above, advanced in tracking the supply chain through to caps and labels. But Then there is MRO (Maintenance, using RFID technology. I was wherever the recipe sits, it needs to Repairs and Overhauls) to ensure the Rockwell intrigued that gear box oil sensors in be flexible to allow for one off trials. that equipment works effectively solution suite US Army helicopters had a spin off in throughout its life cycle with a under the banner the potato chip frying industry! These Flexible reporting minimum effect on plant output as teams study their particular industries Information must be gathered from well as compliance to all sorts of of Factorytalk seeking out the productivity drivers the equipment during execution; associated regulatory standards. covers modules and are able to share best practice weights used, temperatures reached, for production across these apparently vertical times of boils, FV cycle times, etc. Factory Talk sections. They know where the gaps etc. and all the laboratory batch To summarise the challenges planning and are and thus the Rockwell portfolio analyses. How efficient are the discussed above, the Rockwell scheduling can address the industry trends and various label suppliers, what are the solution suite under the banner of individual learn from a range of different wort evaporation figures, do all Factory Talk covers modules for manufacturing applications. Tim SKUs run on the pack lines at the production planning and scheduling batches even Dudley says he has a big team but same efficiency, do you really know individual batches even across across multiple not a massive one and he suggests where the bottlenecks are and what multiple sites with the management sites with the that its structure allows a $5billion about SPC charts, does it have a of inventory and purchase orders. corporation to run its business like a view of customer service and the During brewing activities it will management of SME Ð ‘the consultants with dirty level of returns etc. etc.? There are manage the recipes, collect data, inventory and finger nails’as he styles his many different reports which should control batches in progress focusing purchase orders. colleagues! be available and they should be on inventory reduction and Companies are at different stages provided without any time regulatory compliance. Lot tracking During brewing in using enterprise wide and consuming clerical number and full traceability with all quality activities it will manufacturing software. So what crunching delays. Some will be core checks, even those carried out by the manage the you have to buy depends on what and apply to all locations but the supplier, complete with a full you have already got. SAP has been a information data base needs to be graphics package for reporting recipes, collect massive benefit in the sales and flexible enough for users to extract reduces the risk of costly non data, control financial functions but offers little for their own bespoke reports. Some compliance. Performance is batches in manufacturing. The Rockwell standard reports will need managed with an extensive range of offering bridges the gap between the translating into KPIs to track facilities to convert vast amounts of progress focusing automated plant and the enterprise performance and these indices need data instantaneously into meaningful on inventory system. ERP installations are now presenting at team, manager, plant reports on cost, quality, plant reduction and dropping down the top ten of IT manager and multiplant director utilisation, supplier capability. purchases now that most businesses levels with a reducing amount of Rockwell can fill all these essential regulatory have them and specific included detail. requirements between the PLCs and compliance.” manufacturing packages are Information drives continuous the enterprise wide systems. Its becoming more popular in order to improvement. Each user can set up solutions are also scalable. A look at get more out of existing assets. his own ‘dashboard’with a ready the customer list shows Charles Previously discrete business units in view of what he needs to see and Wells, Beer and New the old organisation are increasingly even have an array of traffic lights Belgium as well as the large becoming links in the supply chain when he first logs on in the morning, multinationals. Its customers’ stretching back to the supplier and on that is unless of course the system products are very different, their to the customer. has automatically called his mobile ways of making them are not The ERP systems will take a sales phone during the course of the night! identical but a flexible easily tailored forecast and stock information and Things do happen so can it handle piece of software can add value to work out how that stock should be rework, can it cope with the non any size of brewing company. More replenished to meet demand by appearance of a load of cans due to agile manufacturing cuts costs.

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