November 23, 2023 - Promtek prides itself on creating industry-leading process control and automation solutions that continually overachieve their customers' objectives. That is how the company has forged a worldwide reputation for excellence in the field. Anpario was looking to modernise its entirely manual production process and bring its factory into line with contemporary efficiency and sustainability targets. It was the perfect match.
Formed over 30 years ago from the merger of three respected animal nutrition companies, Anpario has achieved major success in the agriculture, animal health, manufacturing and animal nutrition markets. It provides services in Eubiotics, feed quality control, feed security and natural feed additives. Anpario's technologies are sold in over 80 countries around the world.
You may also be interested in:
Being an international producer and distributor of high-performance natural feed additives for animal health, the merger that created Anpario resulted in the consolidation of the three seperate companies' production lines into one UK factory. Production volume at the single site spiked. In addition, the complicated legislative processes surrounding the manufacture of animal feeds necessitated the automation of the factory production line and the implementation of process control software and technology.
Shane Bailey, Anpario Operations Director, explained: "Automation is the smart way to manage everything - from raw materials to labour. Our very rapid growth after the merger left us with many challenges - not least that of keeping up with customer demand for our wide range of products. Promtek's process control automation and software platform was, and still is, perfect for our needs. Plus, the quick, easy, regular site visits are great too."
Promtek set out to achieve a number of goals on the project including: increasing production line automation, integrating process control systems, improving track and trace of ingredients, and managing health and safety concerns.
To ensure the future visibility of the Anpario production facility, the automation of the production line incorporated the ability to expand and add new lines on an ad hoc basis. Actual mixing value data is sent to the ERP system, showing updated stock values in real time. Using Promoter's customised control screen visuals designed to imitate real factory equipment - that also streamlines operator onboarding - the day-to-day business activities are managed seamlessly and more efficiently compared to the previous manual setup.
Product categorisation within the process control platform improves finished product safety, as the software allows products to be categorised according to mixing sequences and schedules multiple production runs. This effectively eliminates cross contamination between regulated ingredients. The system automatically produces barcodes from the ERP from a raw material pallet. Barcodes are internationally recognised and increases the track and traceability of lot codes and bin numbers.
Capex expenditure in a suitable process control system that can deal with exceptional growth requires complete buy in and benefits to all business areas. From technical to purchasing, the investment in the automated process control system would show a ROI just two years after installation.
Shane added: "We currently have just over 300 recipes active on our process control system, which is twice as many as we had when we started working with Promtek. They took the time to understand our business, the flexibility they have given to the company is first rate, and the system is future-roofed. More than that, it's really about the mutual trust we have developed over the years of working together as a team."
For more information, visit HERE.
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
No comments:
Post a Comment