Clover SA increases profits through improved industrial intelligence
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Goals
- Real-time monitoring and reporting of energy and material usage throughout the plants
Challenges
- ROI of less than six months
- Data stored in Historian (e.g. Phase Steps) required additional data filtering
- Urgency of generating needed reports quickly
Results
- Reduced utility usage
- Prevention of over-cleaning
- Saving of more than 8 hours engineering time/week
- Highlighted previously-hidden problem areas
- 20% reduction in CIP time
- Access to reports from all levels
- Report requests from Production
Solutions & Products
“As soon as the system was in place, I was asked for reports and, with the intuitive use of Flow Software, I managed to provide the necessary information in five minutes – although I could have done better, this was sufficient to help production on their way and it was also web-available.”
Ursula du Plessis, Process Control Engineer, Clover SA
Implementation
The implementation of this solution started in November 2016 and is currently (April 2017) about 30% completed. “This is an evolving project as we realise the possibilities that Flow Software provides,” says du Plessis. ”Advansys implemented Flow and structured the initial CIP and usage (water and acid) reports and we took over from there. Flow allows us to generate reports over any time period we want while highlighting deviations from the norm which help us diagnose and isolate production equipment problems of which we were previously unaware.”
Benefits
“Some of the benefits we realised were a pleasant surprise as they were not part of the original project objectives. For example, the ROI was initially thought to be 6 months but was in fact realised in the first month,” says du Plessis.
- Reduced utility usage – Because of missed measurements, what previously showed as 400 litres of acid usage, for example, was actually more than 1000 litres which went straight down the drain. The new system was able to synchronise the flow meter pulse width with the PLC scan time and provided substantial savings resulting in a payback period of roughly one month.
- Prevention of over-cleaning – The system highlighted the fact that some CIP procedures were carried out needlessly and this prevented the wastage of acid – which is not reclaimed.
- Saving of more than 8 hours engineering time/week – This was a direct result of useful information on easily-accessible reports.
- Highlighted previously-hidden problem areas – These included incorrect flow rate setup, faulty OEM equipment, software interlocking problems, CIP transition issues, non-standard software and faulty instrumentation feedback.
- Improved control over CIP runs – 20% reduction in CIP time.
- Access to reports – Everyone on the Clover network has access to the generated reports and given the opportunity of making improvements.
- Report requests from Production – This helps them optimise the day-to-day running of the plant.