Paint manufacturer increases its output production five fold
May 2000
IT in Manufacturing
Typically a standard paint batch that took approximarely half a ady to produce now takes only half an hour.The accuragy, consistency and quality control of each batch has increased dramatically
The production PC is located in the supervisor's office and is networked to two batching computers with touch-screens as well as a remote road weighbridge computer. The system controls the manufacture of all the paint base materials, the pumping of these materials to various holding tanks, blending tanks or make-up tanks and the batching and blending of the various paint types and grades. Only the liquid batching is automated at this stage while the powdered materials are loaded manually in bulk bags and recorded by the system. One of the next phases will be to incorporate an automatic decanting and filling system with a bar code labelling system for dispatch and tracking.
The Opto 22 system is interfaced to 22 model AD-4328 AND digital weigh indicators, via an addressable RS422 communications port. Seven material holding tanks and four emulsion storage tanks have one loadcell mounted under one leg of each tank. These tanks remotely display the mass/level of each holding tank. This allows the supervisor to remotely schedule the production, based on the individual holding tanks level/mass.
Seven paint blending tanks located on the mezzanine floor each have three loadcells supporting each tank for higher accuracies when weighing. These tanks automatically batch and blend the various paint grades, types and colour.
Two 15 t high-speed disperser tanks, each with three supporting loadcells, automatically batch, mix and blend the required raw ingredients to form the paint base. Once adequately dispersed, the material is stored in one of two holding tanks or transferred directly to one of two 30 t make-up tanks where it is processed further to form a specific paint grade. This grade/type is then transferred to any one of five holding tanks where it is either dispensed directly from the holding tank or batched into any one of the seven blending tanks for further processing and colouring.
There are two Auto/Manual control panels, one located on the mezzanine floor at the blending tank area and the other on the ground floor in the, make-up and disperser tank area. The system controls a complex maze of pipe trees with ±200 pneumatically operated diversion and control valves, additive dosing pumps, agitator motors, timers and transfer pumps. Current transformers on the high-speed disperser motors control the raise and lower of the high-speed impellers into the tank, thereby obtaining maximum dispersion of the material.
Further reading:
AI infrastructure solutions for data campus
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Schneider Electric and Motivair deliver more than $290 million in power and cooling infrastructure for TeraWulf’s AI-ready Lake Mariner data campus.
Read more...
Africa’s data centre evolution: AI, edge computing and new energy demands
IT in Manufacturing
With less than half a gigawatt of active white space capacity serving over a billion people, Africa’s data centre sector faces a stark gap that AI’s surging power and cooling demands are set to widen. Vertiv and Open Africa Data Centres unpack how modularity, edge computing and smarter energy strategies could change the equation.
Read more...
How data and AI are unlocking South Africa’s next mineral frontier
IT in Manufacturing
Data, AI and blockchain are reshaping how mining companies explore, extract and prove the provenance of resources, opening a new frontier for South Africa’s mining sector.
Read more...
Luna Rossa partners with Siemens for 38th America’s Cup
Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens details how Luna Rossa is using digital engineering and simulation tools, from CAD to structural optimisation, to design a faster yacht for the 38th America’s Cup.
Read more...
AI is raising South Africa’s cybersecurity stakes
IT in Manufacturing
As AI accelerates both the sophistication and scale of cyber threats, South African organisations face significant gaps in cloud security, data governance and identity management that need to be addressed before AI capabilities are further embedded into business operations.
Read more...
How modern EAM is becoming the driver of productivity, resilience and sustainability in mines
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Modern enterprise asset management is turning maintenance from a routine function into a strategic priority, helping mines extend the life of ageing infrastructure while improving productivity and safety.
Read more...
Physical AI solution with potential to transform South African manufacturing
IT in Manufacturing
NTT DATA and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling have deployed physical AI in an industrial assembly environment, embedding intelligence into production workflows to improve quality assurance and cut deployment timelines significantly.
Read more...
AI has an energy problem but Africa has an opportunity
IT in Manufacturing
Africa’s abundant renewable energy resources and largely unbuilt infrastructure put it in a unique position to power the growth of AI data centres sustainably, provided energy solutions are designed to match the scale and flexibility that AI demands.
Read more...
Decoupling software from hardware for future-proofed process automation
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Schneider Electric explains why decoupling software from control hardware helps industrial operations modernise without disrupting production or replacing existing infrastructure.
Read more...
Advancing high-performance motorsport design
Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens explains how its simulation software is helping motorsport engineering group ORECA speed up vehicle design and optimise composite structures for its Le Mans hypercar programme.
Read more...
printer friendly version