Standardised Automation for Higher Profitability
23 August 2007
Tetra PlantMaster™ takes ISA S88 one step further.
When Granarolo’s Centrale Latte Milano outgrew its old premises in Milan, Granarolo decided to build new plant facilities outside the city centre.
Granarolo decided to invest in an automation system which could handle the entire processing operation with very high reliability, increase revenue, handle future demands and which would be based on international standards ISA S88 and ISA S95.
In the flatlands outside Milan, the Centrale Latte Milano has now achieved a completely new level of traceability, with the Tetra PlantMaster concept in command, controlling the processing systems.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ONE STEP FURTHER
“Food industry producers do not like surprises”, says Alberto Sala, technical director of Tetra Pak Food Engineering, Italy. “The modern control system is used to secure the reliability of the plant. If all stages in the process are always operated in exactly the same way, the end product will always have the same high quality.”
ISA S88 is an international modular standard which enables replication and brings flexibility into batch control, making it possible to optimise equipment usage and enable tracking and tracing of events. ISA S88 was developed on input from companies from all over the world and founded on the best practices of SP88 committee members.
Automation based on ISA S88 leads to a lot of advantages. A modular approach reduces software complexity, which leads to easier maintenance, troubleshooting, and validation. It enables easier changes to processes and procedures, improving quality and minimising costs.
ISA S88 isn't just a standard for software, equipment, or procedures; it's a way of thinking, a design philosophy. Instead of entering data manually at the end of each day, valuable real-time data and detailed information about the processes becomes available automatically. Problems are recognised when they occur and action can be taken immediately. Issues can be predicted in advance and product quality increases, as does production yield.
However, Tetra Pak has taken ISA S88 one step further and introduced an even higher level of this standard. Not only is batch control included, it also handles continuous control, which is a major part of the food processing industry.
Through the innovative continuous control function, Tetra PlantMaster lets the equipment, reception and pasteurisers run continuously, processing batch by batch without dismantling. The structure of ISA S88 enables processing solutions with flexible batch control, making it possible to produce different products with the same equipment while at the same time optimising equipment usage.
The higher level of the ISA S88 standard enables structured data acquisition, which is used to improve product quality, optimise production and secure food safety.
COMPLETE PRODUCTION SOLUTION BUILT ON MODULAR DESIGN
Few production solutions can offer the competence and experience of entire processing systems. Centrale Latte Milano chose Tetra Pak because behind the Tetra PlantMaster solution lies unequalled knowledge of how to build the structures to make equipment of different brands work together, and the know-how to implement them, together with reporting functions, recipe handling and batch handling.
Processing engineering the Tetra Pak way, with Tetra PlantMaster as the brain, is built on a modular design. A plant like that at Centrale Latte Milano is built so that each function is described according to a structured model.
"The processing solution in Centrale Latte Milano enables scalability, where further extensions and developments can be appended seamlessly, because the S88 and S95 standards have been strictly adhered to. More modules and tanks can be added and Tetra PlantMaster will secure upgrading of functions and increased volumes at a later stage when needed", say Alberto Sala.
"The engineering skills and deep processing knowledge of Tetra Pak’s personnel means that a processing solution is delivered in which everything is covered, from process control, production dispatch, execution, reporting, tracking and traceability to production analysis."
