Case Study : Food Raw Material Delivery System

The Problem

The customer had an infrastructure with obsolete controls on an existing line which was inherited from the previous plant ownership. The existing controls could not handle the complexity of ordering a large variation of ingredients at each line.

The Solution

ONYX Engineering upgraded the control systems on the line with Rockwell Automation PLCs, a SQL Server and HMIs. ONYX changed the control philosophy to provide just-in-time delivery of material based on usage. This reduced logistics bottlenecks in a busy plant, tracking raw material inputs into each line. Obsolete controls were removed from the conveyor system, new operator station interfaces were installed for order tracking raw material products to their respective lines.

The Results

The client now has more flexibility in ordering palletized supplies and having them directly delivered to each specific line. The improvements resulted in saving time and internal logistics and reducing the potential of incorrect product being delivered to the line.  Each Kitchen has raw materials on hand when required with no waiting, increasing kitchen efficiency.  Since each  order is inputted at the operator kitchen this has increased the correct raw products being ordered and delivered to each kitchen.  Saving our client downtime and money in operations and productivity.