Save with Feed Mill Automation

Advanced system controls take many functions of day to day feed mill operations out of human hands, reducing labor costs and the risk of error.

自动化的主要流程还可以帮助设施实现最大的正常运行时间，生产率和吞吐量，同时促进产品质量并遵守安全法规。

饲料和谷物与当今领先的自动化系统提供商的专家坐下来，以了解实施自动化技术的好处。

Our panel of experts is: Alan Berndtson, director of sales, WEM Automation; Ernie Bollinger Jr., president and CEO, WEM Automation; Jay Davis, business development director, Repete; Fred Olson, software development manager, Beta Raven; Tom Shoen, national accounts manager, COMCO.

F&G:哪些过程非常适合自动化？

Olson:Automation should begin with the process that is going to provide the best return on investment, which is usually batching. The rest of the processes — receiving, grinding, pelleting and load-out — fall in line to complement the batching process.

Berndtson and Bollinger:Most feed mills start with batching and/or pelleting because they typically have the quickest payback. However, on an increasing basis, a large percentage of installations are implementing automation in all areas of the mill because of increased regulatory demands for track and trace, quality control measures and manpower reduction.

Davis:Any process in the plant is a good candidate, provided it has in place properly functioning electrical control devices in the field such as modulating valves, meters, solenoids and limit switches. These plant floor devices enable the equipment to interface with, and be controlled electrically by, the control system.

F&G: What equipment is needed to automate a facility?

Shoen:自动化系统的基本组件是可编程逻辑控制器（PLC）和PC。其他组件可以按照客户的需求进行。这些可以包括用于远程监视和控制的PDA或智能手机，用于数据捕获的条形码扫描仪和坚固的笔记本电脑计算机。

Olson:PLCs have provided the most change in the industry and are usually the next layer under the process workstations. PLCs bring standardization into the control game by controlling an entire plant, a process, or just a discreet slice of a process. PLCs greatly simplify troubleshooting by pinpointing to the technician exactly what inputs are not being made, provided these inputs are an array of sensors.

Davis:Increasingly, customers are gaining access to data — KPIs and so forth — from a remote location via the Web with mobile phones. Customers can use the mobile interface to monitor the operations of the facility and look for opportunities to optimize the facility.

Berndtson and Bollinger:使用或不使用条形码扫描仪的手工添加提示和检查站的使用有所增加。这大部分归因于轨道和轨迹的监管要求。智能条形码扫描仪在收到产品和/或转移到生产中时，在工厂中有一个仓库库存的位置。

F&G: What kind of support do you provide after installation?

Berndtson and Bollinger:Simply put: 24/7. Our control systems are supported via the Internet, and WEM can remotely access all of the critical components such as the PC and PLC at any time, day or night, to resolve any issue.

Davis:Repete provides 24-hour support with an escalation policy to make sure that all of our customers worldwide are supported. Our highest priority is to maintain the availability of our customers’ systems, which is of utmost importance in the feed industry.

Shoen:COMCO provides its customers with 24/7 access to technical support via a toll free number. We can remotely connect in to the customer’s system to quickly troubleshoot issues.

Olson:Beta Raven not only has the technical expertise to perform the work, but also has the stability to support the system over its lifespan.

F&G: How can automation help promote feed and ingredient safety?

Davis:The integrity and safety of our customers’ product is absolutely critical. Automation gives them the ability to trace product from supplier out to a specific group of animals, and provide for both regulatory compliance, as well as risk mitigation in a commercial sense. One of the goals of traceability is to make sure risk is allocated appropriately to the supplier, and it provides a means of making sure the suppliers are accountable for providing safe product coming into the facility and then ensuring and documenting that the feed manufactured was safe.

We have tools available with our system that dramatically reduces the likelihood of operator error. It requires the operator to scan the right product with the bar code, ensures it is put in the right bucket that corresponds with a particular type of feed, and finally makes sure that bucket goes in with the right batch.

Berndtson and Bollinger:许多公司意识到他们的旧程序无法完成有关成分安全性所需的工作。有了24小时的召回要求，许多人根本无法使用纸质跟踪系统来做到这一点。但是，通过自动化，详细信息是所有生产运行，颗粒运行和加载信息的单击，因此轨道和召回过程被显着简化了。客户甚至可以在24小时的时间范围内采取以前无法实现的东西，并将其降低到一个小时。

Repeatability is another key to feed safety. Once a system is fully commissioned, an automation system consistently performs a repetitious task at high accuracy levels, while never getting distracted. Controls continuously monitor the process without needing a break. We have had customers say they paid for the automation of their batching system within three months just from the reduction of routing errors.

Shoen:User security settings can be used to limit access to information like formulas so that they can only be changed by someone with the proper authority. Also, interlocks can be set up and flushing can be automated to prevent ingredient cross-contamination.

A good automation system maintains a comprehensive audit trail of everything that happens in the feed mill. If a problem is suspected, the user can analyze the audits for alarms or anything out of the ordinary such as manual overrides of equipment.

F&G：自动化控制人工成本如何？

Olson:Control systems generally reduce the head count in the plant. One operator in front of a workstation can run multiple processes efficiently. The control system never gets sick, takes a day off or complains about doing the same task over and over, year after year, and it does it all at a speed and accuracy level a human could never achieve.

Berndtson and Bollinger:在某些情况下，自动化可以完全消除整个工作函数。例如，我们可以设置使用“自由人工”的系统 - 卡车司机。传统上，当卡车司机到达负载时，操作员加载了卡车。如今，加载系统可以允许驾驶员选择他应该承担的负载，并单击几下，或者在触摸屏上触摸，驱动程序可以启动该加载过程，而无需任何真正的磨机操作员。

Davis:The impact of automation on labor costs is pretty profound. Beyond the obvious ability of the system to control the process automatically without human intervention, there are some benefits on the administrative side. Our system reduces the need for data entry. The system is automatically able to reconcile your inventory of controlled commodities in process.

Also from a maintenance standpoint, a good system provides diagnostics that are able to reduce downtime associated with labor costs.

F&G: How can automation increase throughput and productivity?

Olson:A control system can run the plant at its limits, while monitoring an array of inputs to keep the plant running safely. The control system monitors for temperatures to know when optimum operating parameters are met, know if parts are failing or even prevent fires. The control system protects expensive motors from overloading, while keeping them operating as efficiently as possible.

Davis:自动化通过优化工厂设备的性能来提高吞吐量和生产率。例如，运行颗粒过程的系统将使您能够通过预测可能导致停机时间的潜在插头状况来非常积极地运行该颗粒磨机，并比人类能够更快地响应它。

另一个很好的例子是批处理系统。准确性和速度是相关的。良好的批处理系统将使您能够通过预测和切断产品流向特定垃圾箱的流量并减少在整个过程中的定居时间和停顿，从而保持高度的准确性。

Shoen:Automating the pelleting process can greatly impact throughput and productivity. We have seen customers increase pellet mill throughput by 5 to 30% with automation. Advanced algorithms ensure fast and accurate calculations for feedback and control, and control parameters are adjusted after every run.

Berndtson and Bollinger:高级控制可最大程度地减少劳动力，从而提高生产率并确保每件设备的最大生产。WEM还提供了吞吐量和生产力的测量工具，因此管理人员实际上可以理解什么促进生产率或缺乏的贡献，并且可以按每次雇员，每月或每周进行每班的情况进行管理。

F&G：设施自动化如何导致更有效的能量消耗？

Berndtson and Bollinger:By operating equipment such as hammer mills, roller mills and pellet mills at peak throughput levels, the energy consumption per ton produced is decreased, thereby saving energy inputs. Also, shutting down equipment during periods of nonuse can save energy.

Olson:控制系统可以监视峰值能量使用和序列非常大的电动机，因此它们并不能同时开始。

Davis:我们可以与能源监控软件集成并将数据提供给客户，以便他们可以决定何时计划生产。例如，有一些工艺可以在非高峰时段运行，并在一次下班时间磨碎的一整天提供地面谷物要求。

Our system can stagger the starting of large motors, shut processes down that aren’t producing, schedule off-hours production and provide good information as to how to use energy efficiently.