Automatic product registration system
System description
A large food plant producing bakery product (export company), had demand for the automatic product registration system. This system intended to be a part of the complex product tracking system along the production line.
Packing machine is the last element of the production line. The number of packaging cycles during one shift is univocal and objective index of the product manufactured.
To compare production plan and actual product volume produced, it was necessary to have an objective (not depending on staff) product registration system, with reporting and long-term (3 monthes) report storage functions.
Original system structure
Packing machine control panel, with::
- S7-200 PLC -1 pcs.
- HMI – TP170 1 pcs.
Existing system drawbacks
Packing machine operation data were collected “manually” – by viewing counter value on the HMI panel.
The reading had to be read promptly, because PLC program stored only one current pack counter (for the last completed batch of certain recipe, before recipe change). This made registration process inconvenient and unreliable.
it was possible, however, to re-program HMI panel to have more entries for pack counters, but this would solve the task only by half – the operator still would go and read manually this data and then manually transfer it into accounting system. HMI panel itself can not help in organizing required data and integrating with enterprise IT system.
So an ideal thing for this project was some task – oriented solution, which would allow to automatically read and register production counters from PLC program and send them to management level.
Project setup with WebHMI
Intrinsic features of WebHMI leveraged fast and easy solution for the task of logging and reporting packing machine operation:
- S7-200 was connected via RS-485 and PPI communication protocol
- The reports was configured using WebHMI’s event and scripts mechanisms, not interfering PLC program:
- Event start condition were machine ready signal, pack passig photo proximity switch and solder bar down signals.
- Event end condition were changing recipe or machine “not ready” signal.
- Data is visualized using web interface – the staff just browse WebHMI on LAN and views or prints the required report for interested date/time. This data can be read from WebHMI by business application (1C, Excel etc.) using API calls.
Report example at the cloud level2 server
Advantages
WebHMI’s features leveraged quick and efficient solution of the task – to provide objective (“human-factor” free) product quantity registration reports and show them in handy format on any computer in LAN:
- Accompanying positive advantages of WebHMI usage were also: ability to remotely program and commission packing machine PLC, using “virtual COM” feature.
- After equipping the packing machine with the WebHMI integration controller, is became fully ready in the future to include it in the system of integrated monitoring and tracking of the products – from the initial point (kneading the dough) to shipping. Everything you need for this already exists on the WebHMI board – built-in development tools, communication capabilities, scripts, API support, etc.