[Article] Ergonomics: Creating a Culture of Safety PostedNovember 13, 2015 http://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/94652-ergonomics-creating-a-culture-o... Machine guarding and other types of safeguards won’t protect plant workers if they circumvent them or place themselves in harm’s way. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
[Case Study] Pinnacle Foods: Overcoming an Accelerated Schedule While Building Ongoing Value PostedNovember 13, 2015 http://info.ecssolutions.com/hubfs/Case_Studies/Pinnacle_Foods_Full_Case_Study_.... Pinnacle Foods’ plan to reinvigorate the iconic Wish-Bone® brand of salad dressings acquired from food giant Unilever included deploying a fully automated, paperless manufacturing process.Getting a new process up and running in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible presented a great enough challenge. ECS Solutions worked with Pinnacle to raise the bar even further— delivering a highly automated solution agile enough to produce new products Pinnacle could only imagine and agile enough to enable Pinnacle to increase process effectiveness over the long term. ECS’ approach to total process automation (TPA), with its focus on delivering value at every stage of the process-system lifecycle, made it possible to realize the full vision of a facility that would consistently deliver the highest-quality products at the lowest possible cost. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
[White Paper] 6 Principles of Total Process Automation PostedNovember 13, 2015 http://info.ecssolutions.com/6-principles-of-total-process-automation-white-pape... Delivering comprehensive value – across the organization and throughout the manufacturing system lifecycle – is what determines the plant’s success. Total Process Automation (TPA) is a comprehensive approach to the design, deployment and operation of process control systems that automates at all levels of the manufacturing enterprise. Using a Total Process Automation approach provides the standardization, reliability and agility to adapt to industry changes and help build that success over the long term.In this white paper we cover:- The 6 principles to Total Process Automation- How these principles are applied to deliver value at every point in the manufacturing system lifecycle Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
An Upgrade to Ignition Sepasoft "Perspective" OEE & Downtime Model PostedApril 19, 2021 A global consumer goods manufacturer hired ECS Solutions to evaluate and install an upgrade of an Ignition Application from Version 7.9 to Version 8.1. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Bardstown Bourbon Company Case Study PostedFebruary 1, 2020 ECS Solutions upgraded BBC’s existing HMI system from a C-More application to an Ignition application. The previous application had limited flexibility in terms of data collection, process history, and licensing structure. The major challenge was delivering a customized solution that utilized new technologies while also creating an architecture that could adapt to the end user’s changing needs. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Batch control blasts off PostedDecember 15, 2015 http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2015/batch-blasts-off/ One especially useful part of S88 is its decoupling of device control models from recipe control models, which makes it simpler and easier to reuse programming code and templates, adjust applications and build new systems. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Case Study: Proprietary Replacement PostedJune 24, 2021 For many years, a large nutrition company used a Proprietary program that was developed in-house, to manage the recipe database and to calculate the mass balances of the ingredients to meet the nutritional profile of each product. The application/program has become difficult to support and maintain. The customer approached ECS Solutions to undertake a review of the Proprietary application and recommend how it may be replaced or rewritten. T Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
ECS is Integrator of the Year! PostedFebruary 17, 2016 http://www.controleng.com/single-article/ecs-solutions-inc-evansville-ind/fd49c3... ECS Solutions was selected by the editors of Control Engineering and Plant Engineering magazines as Integrator of the Year in the below $10M gross revenue category. President Timothy S. Matheny states, "We are both proud and humbled by this award. Proud, for the recognition of our repeated success and humble as we assume the challenge of continuing to live up to this prestigious award, being one of the best of the best." Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Large Consumer Goods Case Study PostedMarch 3, 2020 ECS was hired to upgrade and replace a CIP control system in one of the manufacturing areas for a large consumer goods company. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Mathematical Models help find spill values, material savings PostedApril 8, 2016 http://www.controleng.com/single-article/mathematical-models-help-find-process-s... More accurate material deliveries are obtained when the control system compensates for lag in the control and other effects by instructing a delivery to shut down just prior to reaching the target amount. The difficult question is, "How early?" This value is sometimes called a "pre-act value" or a "spill value." Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Modular Batch Flexibility Brings Unforeseen Benefits PostedDecember 15, 2015 http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2013/otto-matheny-modular-batch/ One of the key benefits of a control system based on the ISA-88 standard is modularity. Modularity begets flexibility. A flexible process control system brings unforeseen benefits throughout its useful lifetime. Even simple systems can benefit from a modular, flexible control system. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Plant automation: Finding the right fit PostedDecember 15, 2015 http://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/94774-plant-automation-finding-the-ri... Do what makes sense when installing automation in your facility, considering your budget and business goals. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Reduce the execution and validation effort by standardizing PostedJuly 9, 2020 https://ecssolutions.com/batch-boosters/reduce-the-execution-and-validation-effo... We can greatly benefit from understanding what others have done, standards encapsulate the current best approach as seen by an individual or team. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Securing Your Intellectual Property PostedApril 30, 2020 https://ecssolutions.com/batch-boosters/securing-your-intellectual-property-prod... How secure is the intellectual property of your products?Many degrees of automation exist in manufacturing plants, but they all have a common requirement– specifying the activities and the order in which they need to occur as well as the key setpoints such as materials, amounts, tolerances, temperatures, durations, etc. Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Service and Industrial Manufacturing Systems PostedMarch 23, 2016 http://bit.ly/1MChbh2 The idea of remote support for industrial manufacturing systems is not new. The IIoT and the convergence of IT and OT are providing better platform technology than has ever before been at our disposal. How might we exploit today’s technology more fully? Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
Solutions for improving yield are within reach PostedDecember 15, 2015 http://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/94515-solutions-for-improving-yield-a... You add up the mass of raw materials your facility consumes each day, look at the products it's made, and the numbers just don't balance—until you look at skids of rework and a dumpster topped off with the day's malformed products and/or damaged packages. What went wrong and how do you get a handle on it? Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More
The Case for Embedding Standards and Best Practices PostedFebruary 17, 2016 http://www.automationworld.com/case-embedding-standards-and-best-practices Why should we keep industry standards, best practices, and experience in the hands of control system engineers? Why can’t we give a much wider group of practitioners the tools they need to do the job, while guiding them with embedded engineering experience? Posted byECS Solutions, Inc. Read More