Problem

Prior to their Connected Shop Floor initiative, Conagra operated multiple facilities consisting of independently developed PLC, tag, and visualization architectures. This resulted in inconsistent ISA-95 hierarchy implementation, non-standardized tag metadata, and fragmented dashboard and trending practices across sites. Conagra needed to manually onboard devices, create tags, and manage their namespace. These types of engineer-driven processes did not include standard governance, increased configuration errors, complicated enterprise reporting, and limited visibility into plant floor systems, database connections, and device status across the organization. The absence of a templated framework and centralized enterprise deployment strategy created version drift between facilities, limiting scalability and requiring redundant engineering effort to maintain standards across sites.

To alleviate these issues, Conagra needed to provide site engineering, continuous improvement, operations, and maintenance personnel with common tools, such as tag configuration, device management, and report template generation, through a controllable Perspective frontend. While these could be developed directly in the Ignition designer, they would require specialized training rather than simply following a checklist in a Perspective session. Moving these tools from the Ignition designer or the Gateway to the frontend enables more control and consistency, minimizing issues caused by accidental misconfigurations. Additionally, Ignition report configuration can be challenging for new or non-technical users. LSI developed their solution to enable those users to create their own custom dashboards through the Gateway network using third-party tools.

Solution

LSI developed a standardized, runtime-configurable Ignition application that enforces ISA-95 namespace rules and embeds required metadata in addition to providing controlled tools for device management, tag configuration, dashboard and trend creation, and enterprise health monitoring.

LSI architected the application as a highly templatized, modular framework designed for governed distribution through Ignition’s Enterprise Administration Module (EAM), enabling centralized version control, structured rollout, and consistent replication across facilities.

Additionally, the solution leveraged Playwright automation to generate dashboard screenshots directly from the runtime environment and schedule automated distribution to stakeholders. This enabled consistent, production-ready information distribution without manual intervention, extending the platform beyond visualization into automated operational communication.

Result

By combining centralized governance with plant-level self-service configuration and automated distribution, the Ignition solution reduced engineering overhead, improved data consistency and scalability, enhanced enterprise visibility, and established a sustainable architecture for enterprise-wide expansion.

The implementation standardized namespace architecture, metadata governance, and visualization workflows across facilities while significantly reducing manual configuration. The solution replaced engineering-driven tasks such as device onboarding, tag structuring, and dashboard configuration with controlled runtime tools, improving accuracy and reducing variability across sites.

As LSI built the platform as a templatized framework distributed via EAM, new facilities and production lines can now be onboarded using a repeatable architecture without redevelopment. This eliminated version drift, accelerated deployment timelines, and established centralized governance over application updates.

By integrating Playwright-driven dashboard screenshot generation and scheduled distribution, the solution transformed dashboards into automated operational tools, delivering consistent, system-generated visual performance summaries without requiring manual exports. This has resulted in reduced administrative workload and improved communication cadence. Collectively, the project shifted the organization from site-specific engineering customization to a scalable, governed, enterprise-grade application model.

Project Team

The team consisted of four primary members, with several supporting contributors providing topic specific subject matter expertise. These included:

• Dylan Powers, Senior IIoT Designer - LSI
• Garrett Bailey, Senior Controls Engineer - LSI
• Logan Terry, Co-Director of Digital Transformation - LSI
• Amit Jani, Principal Engineer - Conagra Brands.

Dylan Powers and Garrett Bailey were the primary developers of the templatized frameworks and Ignition work, with Amit Jani acting as the voice of Conagra, who provided critical information and feedback regarding the client needs, feature requests, and future updates during deployment. Logan Terry provided project management and oversight on the functionality, including assisting with the development of the custom Playwright implementation.

Project Scope

• Start Date: September 2025

• Deploy Date: January 2026

• Tags: ~200,000

• Screens: 75

• Clients: ~320 clients at peak

• Alarms: 0; system includes alarm configuration tools

• Devices: ~1,600 mostly Rockwell with some Modbus and OPC UA server connections.

• Architectures: Hub & Spoke, Enterprise

• Databases: 33 connected, all MSSQL

• Historical data logged: 0; system includes historization tools

• Number of people on team: 4