Upgrading Legacy Motion and Servo Equipment within the UK & Irish FMCG Industry
The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry is entering an exciting phase across the United Kingdom and Ireland with sustainability, flexibility, and machine analytics gaining significance for every aspect of the FMCG value chain.
Many existing motion systems are still “black box” by nature, with almost no support for obsolete and legacy equipment. That means that a digital transformation is required in the FMCG industry with upgrades of both the motion and wider control element of production lines, fillers, separators, wrappers, cartoners, and pick and place handling systems.
Enhance efficiency of machines
We help manufacturers to overcome major roadblocks such as;
Obsolete motion control
& servo systems
that fail to pass on crucial machine information to engineering and the relevant production layers of the organisation.
Black box legacy equipment
that does not permit the level of machine flexibility required for modern batch production systems.
Inability to predict
the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) for machines.
The motion and servo systems ecosystem
Servo systems are found wherever there is a need for coordinated and synchronised motion control. They are used prolifically for pick and place operations, variable speed governance, and position control.
Typical applications of these systems would include packaging machinery, material handling and assembly systems as well as Delta 2D, 3D, and Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) robots.
Challenges of replacing or upgrading motion and servo equipment
Legacy and obsolete motion systems are common across the industrial landscape. Some of the reasons you may delay the upgrade plans include:
- Avoiding production downtime associated with upgrades.
- Risks associated with getting the same or better levels of accuracy in controls and motion.
- Lack of in-house expertise to gauge the right system for upgrade or replacement.
- Cost of direct replacement.
- Lack of documentation and software back-up.
- Over-dependence on OEMs/ vendors for proprietary systems.
100+ completed motion control projects
Do you work on a project and do not know how to move on? Do you need extra skillset or pair of hands?
These are the areas we can solve together:
- Installation of new machines and OEM partnerships
- Upgrading legacy plant
- Installation of Delta, Scara, and Articulated Robots
Machinery we helped to upgrade
intelligent conveying solutions | blister pack lines | flying shear | continuous filter press and handling conveyors
extrusion handling and cutting | packaging in the food and beverage industry, biscuits, onions, strawberries
linear positioning | XYZ tables | flow wrappers | cartoners | 2D & 3D Delta robots
Working on projects in UK and Ireland
Since 1991, we have been providing platform independent design and implementation of hardware and software products from leading automation suppliers to manufacturing companies in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Automation systems design, system architecture selections, maintenance, troubleshooting and training. These are our focus areas where we can support you.
Some of the skills we bring to the table include:
Control Panels & MCC design and build
Variable speed drive suites
Industrial Electrical Installation
Call out breakdown services and engineering Support Services 24/7
Machinery Safety TÜV
Control Systems / PLC
Rockwell official RcSI (Allen Bradley), Siemens (Solution Partner) S5 / S7 / TIAMitsubishi, Omron, Schneider, B&R, GE
SCADA
Ignition, Factory Talk, RSView, WinCC, Wonderware, iFix, Citect, Virtualised Environments
Robots
Delta, Mitsubishi, Kuka, Yaskawa
OPC – Kepware
Implementation of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
Siemens Opcenter Execution ( Discrete or Process), Advanced Planning and Scheduling
Inductive Automation‘s Ignition
Examples of our projects done
Leading Biscuit Manufacturer Chooses ATS Global to Improve Material Handling Efficiency
More than 65% improvement in waste rate vis-à-vis manual process due to vision control system (genuine waste metrics was less than 10%).
