Large Greenfield Site for AriZona Beverages

The goal was to provide an ISA-88 batch control solution for a greenfield site for can/bottle beverage production. And also to provide MES/SCADA functionality for OEE, downtime tracking, detailed production scheduling, and SAP/MES interfacing for process orders, batch, and finished goods reporting. This was all done for the new AriZona Beverages plant in Keasbey, New Jersey.

As a result of the custom batch solution and multiple Ignition projects, AriZona has complete visibility of its business and production process through Ignition and Sepasoft MES. Vertech created a closed-loop production process and business data process within a single platform, allowing this greenfield site to produce a higher-quality, more consistent product quicker, easier, and cheaper than traditional methods would have allowed.

Vertech was brought into this project to provide a world-class automation solution. The client requested the Ignition platform to be used for all MES, batch and process control functions for batching syrup concentrate and tracking production from raw materials through finished packaged goods. 

For syrup concentrate batching, a process engineering firm designed a production process which was extremely flexible, allowing AriZona to produce any of its beverage products in its portfolio using a combination of three manual addition premix batch stations and 12 syrup batch tanks. In order to accommodate the process design, an ISA-88-inspired batch control system had to be created with Ignition. The batch control system allows the client to create flexible batch recipes at runtime, which allows parallel phase control, sequential phase control, or any combination. The batch control system allows the batch recipe to be scaled to the needs of production and minimizes batch times by automatically controlling bulk additions of raw materials while operators perform manual additions.

AriZona also requested that the process control system and MES interface with its ERP system (SAP) to exchange real-time production and business traceability. The batch control system would become a critical link for both production control and business system tracking. While the Ignition platform and Sepasoft MES modules provide the means of creating much of the functionality requested by AriZona, an industrial batching solution would need to be custom-built by Vertech. 

The batch control system follows ISA-88 models and terminology. A physical model was created to define Units, Equipment Modules and Control Modules while a process model was created to identify Phases, Operations and Unit Procedures. The batch control system was then designed to allow the end user to build a batch recipe based on the objects and constraints defined within those models.

The batch control system directly interfaces with Rockwell Automation’s PhaseManager feature, which provides ISA-88-compliant PLC code within the Studio 5000 Logix Designer programming software. By utilizing PhaseManager, the design of the custom batch control system would require Ignition to interface with the PLC in the same fashion as competing ISA-88-compliant control software packages do. By leveraging PhaseManager and adopting the models and terminology of ISA-88, Vertech ensured that the custom batch control captures the overall spirit of industrial batching.

With the creation of the batch control system, Vertech was able to provide the client a world-class solution which interacts with every level of the automation, from device control to ERP. 

The Sepasoft MES Web Services Module was used for SAP/MES interfacing, and the Sepasoft OEE 2.0 Module provided functionality for scheduling of batching and packaging work orders, as well the primary means of tracking OEE and downtime of the five packaging lines and 12 batch tanks. Batch control allows operations to produce the required product.

Six distinct Ignition projects were created:

• MES Management Application – Batch recipe management, MES/SAP interfacing, production scheduling, production/downtime history and analysis, batch and CIP reports, batch/packaging finished goods yields, system security, and configuration.
• Plant-Floor Batch Control – Traditional plant-floor SCADA application for all batch operations and process control functions. Provides access to batch phase control, device control for valves, motors, analog inputs/outputs, digital inputs/outputs, CIP control, and overall process equipment status. Provides OEE/Downtime tracking and entry at each packaging line.
• Perspective Application – Provides read-only information on raw material inventory, syrup batch tank inventory, and packaging-line OEE.
• Plant Dashboards – Production dashboards for display on televisions throughout the plant.
• Data Collection – Backend application for data collection and transaction groups.
• MES Gateway Application – Required for Sepasoft Modules.