We delivered significant efficiency improvements to production lines at specialist manufacturing company SI Protech (UK) Ltd using our in-depth Siemens PLC knowledge and considerable automation design experience.

Software automation solutions

In response to SI Protech’s initial brief, Feed4ward’s Adriane Bestic analysed the existing Siemens control environment and designed a number of significant changes to improve the system:

• PLC software was implemented to allow a robot arm to place parts from two separate infeed conveyors onto a rotary table. This provides manufacturing flexibility as the assembly machine can now be either loaded manually or automatically without the need for reconfiguration.
• Further software modifications provide improvements to six valve leak testers. providing both individual and automated control. This was achieved by by integrating various control and status signals that were not previously available to the PLC.
• Additional screens were added to the Siemens KTP700 HMI to enable operators to manually control the leak testers and also to allow changeover between two different infeed conveyors without the need for manual intervention
• A Profinet-connected Siemens ET200SP distributed IO station was used to increase the number of digital inputs and outputs available for monitoring and control without the need to upgrade the existing PLC

All changes requested by SI Protech were documented, implemented, commissioned and tested by Feed4ward and followed our robust quality assurance and review processes.

Results

The upgrade and enhancements to the valve assembly and test process has reduced the time needed to test the valves for leaks They enable test results to be accurately recorded. Further improvements allow valves to be fed from either an automated machine or from an existing conveyor loaded manually. Giving extra flexibility, less production downtime and measurable efficiency improvements.

Rhys Lewis, CEO at Feed4ward said “We were pleased to work with SI Protech on this interesting and challenging project. Our deep knowledge of Siemens control and automation products coupled with our collaborative approach meant that we were able to work together with SI Protech to achieve the improvements they needed.”

To discuss how Feed4ward can bring efficiencies for your business through intelligent automation, contact us at sales@feed4ward.com