Are there areas in your plant still tied to manual weighing and recording? A conservative estimate of 0.05% error in weighing can cost a plant tens of thousands of dollars every year. For example, measuring one ton of bulk grain with a 0.05% error translates to 100 pounds of unaccounted product.
Our Newell Automation team was contacted by a distillery that wanted to update and automate many of the manual processes in the distillery. One of the most manual areas was the granary where they received and stored various grains (corn, wheat, barley, and rye) that are cooked, fermented and then distilled into whiskey.
The existing granary process used manual scales – some of which dated back nearly a hundred years! Grains were stored in bulk and augers would transfer the desired grain into an intermediate weigh bin. An operator would visually weigh the grains and document all the measurements in a written notebook. Opportunities for errors were numerous – old scales possibly out of calibration, manual recording of weights, manually stopping/starting of the auger, unknown levels of grain in bulk tank, etc.
Newell Automation provided the distillery with a new PLC/Controls platform. The system recorded weights from load cells on both the bulk tanks and the intermediate weigh bin. Information was relayed to the operator in real-time via an HMI display. We also provided automated start/stops for all the augers via the PLC. A motor control center with VFD’s gave the operator further control of the auger speed to dose the grains more accurately for each recipe.
The system automated the documentation and recording – leading to more accuracy and improved cost savings. It also freed up a significant amount of time for the operator to perform other tasks in the plant. More whiskey production through improved automation, that’s something we can raise a toast to! If you want to streamline and automate some of your processes, contact one of our associates to see how We Make It Work Better.