As the fourth largest canning plant in the world, the order of the day at Coca-Cola Canners' (CCC) Wadeville plant is control and traceability. Four of the company's seven production lines now have scada-linked specialised on-line printers for the realtime labelling of shrink-wrapped cans and entire pallets.
The objective of this project was to accurately and automatically label cases of cans and pallets of cases entering the warehouse for subsequent distribution within Coca-Cola SA's sales territories. To do this, a good bar coding system is essential and prior to the installation of this solution, bar codes were applied manually to cases and pallets. One of the functions of the new system, therefore, was to eliminate the potential problems of this manual approach by having an accurate and reliable bar coding system that would ensure that at least 90% of the cases were correctly coded (a case consists of two dozen shrink-wrapped 340 ml cans and a pallet consists of 90 cases - containers with different capacities can also be handled automatically).
The labelling of the cases and pallets needed specialist printers that were supplied by Pyrotechnical Marketing (Pyrotec) who chose system integrator Ram-Tec Systems to implement the total solution. Ram-Tec integrated existing and new elements in such a way as to meet Coca-Cola's operational and business objectives. The new scada system was based on Wonderware's InTouch and this was extended with Wonderware's Touch-Panel computers that were responsible for running the entire suite of software solutions. The specialised Markem CimJet Print and Apply labelling systems were supplied by Pyrotec.
The VideoJet printer (already installed before this project) uses inkjet technology to label the shrink-wrapped cases of 24 cans before these are palletised. The printed information includes the pallet number, plant ID, line number, shift code, batch number and product expiry date. The CimJet prints a label that duplicates the Video Jet information and adds the product code and description as well as a 36-character bar code. It then attaches this label onto a pallet of 90 cases. After the label is applied to the pallets, the Markem CimJet uses a bar code scanner to verify that the information is correct and that the bar code can be scanned reliably.
The custom-developed Visual Basic software module queries the Oracle database for the table of products and creates a local copy at 06h00 every morning. By communicating directly with the company's Oracle database, the system has eliminated a great deal of manual entry and the risk of errors appearing on the various labels. By completing the loop between business and production processes, the system also forms the basis for a more extensive MES solution.
The oracle database automatically generates Crystal reports that are made available to all team leaders who can track the performance of their plant in pseudo realtime (depending on how often a report is generated). They are also able to see if they are meeting their required targets by checking how many pallets have been processed and take remedial action if necessary. Another key benefit is the ability to detect missing or stolen pallets by reconciling those already in the warehouse with those being processed. Since user activity is also logged, mistakes or dishonest practices can be traced back to specific operators.
"We think that this extension of process control to the packaging lines is fairly unique," says Alberto Pontiggia, MES business development manager for Ram-Tec Systems, "but it makes a lot of sense as this is a key function in the overall supply chain and the start of logistics processes."
Summary
* Client: Coca-Cola Canners, Wadeville.
* Project goal: Accurate and automatic labelling of cases and pallets.
* Strategy: Query existing Oracle-based product database and use the existing scada system for HMI purposes and control of the specialised label printers on each palletising line.
* Selected solutions: Custom Visual Basic application, VideoJet and CimJet printers from Pyrotec and the addition of the Wonderware InTouch scada application with Telemecanique Premium PLC. All software to run on Wonderware Touch-Panel computers.
* Derived benefits: Improved labelling accuracy and measurement of production performance. Improved security and throughput.
* System integrator: Ram-Tec Systems.
For more information contact Alberto Pontiggia, Ram-Tec Systems, 011 803 9254, [email protected], or Justin Tweedie, Futuristix, 0861 WONDER (0861 966 337), [email protected]
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