Connectivity
From warehouse to enterprise with edge computing
SOURCE: OPTO 22
New hand sanitizer packaging plant uses unique automation architecture to run at the pace of modern business. A new connectivity solution puts dynamic manufacturing data at the edge of the production line and into enterprise systems simultaneously in real-time.
Partial Emerald 66 architecture.
“Each piece of equipment needs to be intelligent … because management is so keen on information,” explained Thomas Coombs, principal engineer at NACI. “We’re going to make every conveyor and every device smart.” SOURCE: OPTO 22
IN RESPONSE TO THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR hand sanitizer in 2020, Emerald 66 Enterprises (E66) set up shop in an empty denim processing plant in Seminole, Oklahoma, U.S.A. In only three months, with the help of system integrator Northeast Automation Company, Inc. (NACI), E66 had automated packaging lines producing up to 1 million bottles of hand sanitizer a week in a cGMPcompliant facility, and it continues to expand its core capabilities at a rapid clip. Let’s examine the technologies and techniques used to achieve competitive advantage in a challenging market environment.
Getting down to business
When E66 hired NACI to automate its bottling and packaging process, the company understood it was competing against low-paid, high-volume workforces operating manually and believed it could use technology to do more with a smaller, better-paid workforce.
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To achieve this, Coombs planned to employ edge computing—a design technique that adds general-purpose data processing and connectivity capabilities to traditional real-time control and sensing applications— to build an information management system at the same time that he scaled up production capabilities. He did this using Opto 22’s groov family of industrial edge controllers and I/O. But E66 had also determined that the quickest way to build a new packaging process was by acquiring a variety of equipment at auction. The state of equipment on arrival varied widely, and NACI had to get creative in order to design a cohesive system at the speed that Emerald 66 needed.
Layered distributed control
NACI manufactured VFD control panels for local conveyor control using Opto 22’s groov RIO.
To address the different circumstances the team faced, NACI employed a unique architecture that enabled separate control systems to function together and also laid a foundation for E66’s data acquisition goals. At the top level, NACI used a groov EPIC
in d u s t r ial et h er ne t b o o k
11.2021
