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8 CASE STUDY

Process visualization

Automated product and process data


acquisition in the meat industry

Its Now or
Never

With Simatic S7-300, Simatic HMI, standard on all Vemag machines. As a re- For concrete practical
sult, the necessary spare parts stocks for research assignments,
and Simatic WinCC, Vemag, a manu- the Lippe and Hxter
the entire range of Vemag plants have
facturer of smoke generators and Technical University
been reduced to three components. uses state-of-the-art
climatic treatment systems, already In addition, operation and monitoring processing technology
meets tomorrows requirements for with graphic user interfaces providing from Vemag

this industry today. The standardized clear plant and process images reduce
the hesitancy of unskilled operators and
WinCC add-on PM Quality guarantees
promote a better understanding of the
the continuous and tamper-free trace- process and its operating philosophy, ex-
ability of product and process data. plains Thomas Steindorf, head of electri-
cal engineering at Vemag.
Tried and tested in research and
Continuous traceability
development

T
he basic EU directive 178/2002, in ef- With regard to traceability, Vemag has act-
fect from 2005, places much higher ed preemptively and developed the LDS One of the rst users and beneciaries of
demands on the documentation and advanced management and documenta- the new automation solution from Vemag
traceability (article 18) of product and tion system, tailor-made to meet the re- is the meat technology faculty of the Lippe
process data from producer to end con- quirements of the meat processing indus- and Hxter technical university. In proj-
sumer. Vemag Anlagenbau GmbH in Ver- try before the new regulations went into ects and theses, the trainee meat tech-
den (Germany) recognized the resultant effect. This software package is based on nologists examine how the processing of
additional requirements and adapted its Simatic WinCC, which has a standardized meat, meat products, ready meals, and
products accordingly. This medium-sized add-on that performs the specic tasks delicatessen and convenience products
manufacturer of machines and plants for of quality data acquisition and evaluation can be further improved.
the meat and sh processing industry is for process management. In one project, for example, the quality-
one of the ve largest providers of smok- Up to 30 batch systems from Vemag relevant process factors for the maturing
ing plants in the world. It concentrates on can be connected to the system and moni- of raw sausage were examined in a modu-
adapted hot smoking, boiling, cooling, tored in the network. The only precondi- lar Vemag plant. The key is controlling
and air smoking systems used mainly in tion is a Vemag Micromat control and reg- variables such as lead, external and core
batch mode. ulation unit. This also allows existing temperature, humidity, and air speed in
Vemag has been using specially adapt- Vemag plants to be easily retrotted and the individual chambers, and being able
ed microprocessor controls in its plants integrated, providing standardization to understand and trace their inuence on
for quite some time. The demand for uni- with security of investment, as Wilfried J. the end product. The participants unani-
form systems, increased productivity, and Martens, managing director of Vemag, de- mously agreed that this was easier than
a reduction in spare parts stocks provided scribes this customer-friendly philosophy. ever before with the new control and doc-
the initiative to implement automation The control and documentation system umentation system. Because, rst and
technology with the standardized com- can be used both on a conventional PC at foremost, the technology must be easy to
ponents of Simatic. Since then, Simatic the office level, and on a robust industrial adapt, extend, and maintain so that we
S7-300 and, depending on the require- PC directly in production. Vemag prefers can use it for as many tasks as possible,
ments, the graphics-capable Simatic OP Probus DP for communication with the explains master butcher and practitioner
270 or OP 170B operator panels have been individual plants. Alexander Ern. Even inexperienced stu-

ideas 3/2005
9

All photos: W. Geyer


New, consistent standard on all Vemag
machines is the graphics-capable Simatic
Operator Panel OP 270 from Siemens

dents are able to understand and apply the Comfortably


sometimes very sophisticated evaluation implemented:
Traceability
functions of this system in a short time.
based on Simatic
WinCC and the
Enhanced process safety standardized add-
As a decisive advantage of the WinCC- on PM Quality
based solution, Ern highlights the fast and
unrestricted availability of process data,
concentrated in a single system on the
plant or in the office. Unlike the previous
system, the new solution allows historical points for the respective product in the International transparency
data to be visualized without interrupting Program Editor and saves all the settings
the current recording. In this way, faults as a recipe in WinCC. Vemags Steindorf knows there is no
that take place during the night shift can Access to all operating functions such other SCADA system on the market that
be analyzed the next morning while pro- as setting up batch reports or changing allows all this as simply and at such low
duction continues. subordinate control circuits is password costs as WinCC with PM Quality. For all its
This minimizes downtime, signicant- protected. At this service level, the control functional variety, the system remains
ly enhances process safety, and simplies points are dened in the closely integrat- transparent for different inspection bod-
the continuous, complete documentation ed PM Quality add-on. They are acquired ies with different orientations in the world
that is demanded by the basic EU directive permanently in the background during market.
beginning in 2005, notes Achim Stiebing, production and are provided either in The new automation standard from
head of the institute. The continuous doc- table or curve form for many different Vemag has proven its worth in industrial
umentation of the so-called Hazard Analy- evaluations. Based on this data, trends can practice at the Danish boiled sausage
sis Critical Control Points (HACCP), pre- be visualized, batches compared with a manufacturer Tulip, in the industrial raw
scribed by the Codex Alimentarius Com- master batch, or informative energy bal- sausage production of Mecom in Slovenia,
mission (CAC) for satisfying worldwide ance sheets created, for example. Mal- and at Danica in neighboring Croatia. 
food standards, is now relatively straight- functions such as opposing streams of
forward. The supervisor denes the process cold and heat can thus be detected More information:
process steps and corresponding set- and eliminated immediately, says Ern. www.siemens.com/wincc

ideas 3/2005

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