Coca-Cola's Swaziland Waste Water Treatment Plant has been operated on a manual control basis until recently when the management decided to automate its processes with the use of Wonderware's InTouch HMI/scada, IndustrialSQL Server and the Archestra Industrial Application Server solutions to improve efficiency and remote plant monitoring.
Prior to this upgrade, control of Coca-Cola's Waste Water Treatment Plant in Swaziland involved operators having to control the various processes completely manually. Naturally, this control was less than optimal and resulted in over-usages and inefficiencies within the plant. In view of this, and in close liaison with Invensys APV, it was decided to deploy an HMI/scada/information system that would assist the operators provide a more consistent control, improve usage of materials and available equipment as well as facilitate the possible remote monitoring of the plant's control processes in action. This will be achieved through the simultaneous dissemination of the required information both locally, in Swaziland, and in remote locations where required.
"With hundreds of plants worldwide, automation is certainly no stranger to the Coca-Cola Company," says Mike Ramsay, automation manager, Invensys APV. "For the Swaziland project, we were the chosen system integrator because of our knowledge of Wonderware's ArchestrA and its ArchestrA industrial application server (IAS). The brief that we were given by Gerald Glancey, process/engineering manager of Coca-Cola Swaziland was that he wanted a solution that would be supported by a vendor that is working on the leading edge of proven automation technology, which is both current and that would provide a valid migration strategy for at least a five to seven-year period. Scalability was also an important component of this plant automation project as this is only the first of many envisaged for the future."
The first phase of the project called for the control of 200 physical devices. This consists of two workstations, one for InSQL and the other for the IAS and InTouch that is reserved for the use of the operators. The system is integrated into the company's intranet with remote monitoring facilities that allow for in-house and remote monitoring on a realtime basis. With this facility, on-line collaboration with wastewater treatment plant experts as well as on-line assistance from Invensys APV in Johannesburg is possible and further enhances the system's capabilities.
"The implementation time for this system is four months from the date of the official order," says Ramsay. "Not bad, considering that little or no automation existed previously. A major contributor was ArchestrA's rapid development environment and the ability to re-use proven standards. We used the APV International standards library developed for ArchestrA, which meant that, apart from minor modifications to support the Siemens platform, we did not have to develop special templates for this project. This is the third time these ArchestrA standards have been used. The first was at a beverage plant in France and the second at a brewery in Belgium."
The plant was modelled using the ISA S88 V modelling technique in order to empower operators into phase technology through the use of 'start, stop, hold, restart, abort' terminology and not just starting pumps and opening valves. The entire system was fully tested at the Invensys APV offices in Johannesburg with Andrew Wood of SRK Consultants and the Coca-Cola Swaziland technical team before being released for site trials.
"I am confident that, through this implementation, the wastewater treatment plant will experience a reduced operating cost per litre of effluent treated," says Gerald Glancey. "Further to this and of utmost importance, is that the quality of effluent discharge will remain consistent and the system will truly assist the operational staff in meeting their objectives. In operating a wastewater treatment plant such as ours, the automatic switchover from master to slave with respect to the equipment and an accurate display of process variables all contribute to creating an environment which is conducive to achieving consistent and accurate control of the process."
About Coca-Cola
Founded in 1886, the Company is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce nearly 400 beverage brands. Coca-Cola's corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, USA with local operations in over 200 countries around the world.
For more information contact Mike le Plastrier, Futuristix Advanced Control Systems, 011 723 9900, [email protected], www.futuristix.co.za
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