Food & Beverage Industry Process Control Panels 

Industrial Automation Control / Food Industry Process Control Systems

According to Food and Beverage Wisconsin (FaB), there are more than 20,000 food and beverage employers in the state. More than 250 of them are manufacturing companies. At iAutomation, we work with a good cross-section of product industries as a leading industrial control panel manufacturer. iAutomation uses the latest technology to build integrated systems that comply with all sanitary application requirements, including UL 508A and NEMA Type-4X.

Streamlining Food Processing Control Systems to Improve Efficiencies

When a global supplier of food and beverage conveying equipment contacted us for our ideas to streamline their conveyor controls, we went to work analyzing their industrial automation control system. They were looking to improve efficiencies in moving cans, bottles, cases, pallets, and packaging materials at a high rate of speed.

Working in conjunction with the manufacturer, we: 

• Built control systems that tied multiple PLC and drive panels together.
• Used Ethernet communication to also tie in the operator interface stations.
• Networked 155 VFDs housed in multiple locations throughout their customer’s plant.
• Built UL508A listed panels with NEMA Type-4X wash-down enclosures

The Diversity of Our Food Industry Experience Runs Deep

We’ve also set up industrial automation control panels in the meat processing industry utilizing RFID tracking and automation from slaughter to packaging to palletization. We improved their process and tracking and built the industrial control panels to control it.

And how could we be based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and not serve cheese and malt manufacturers?

We created PLC control panels to build safety and efficiency into our cheese manufacturer’s automation system. If there’s an issue at one end of the assembly line, the system automatically slows conveyance and/or diverts product flow to allow the system operator to address issues without shutting down production completely. Strategically located e-stops allow for immediate shutdown if necessary.

We also fine-tuned critical food processing recipes to sense, measure, monitor, and track critical data and program the process to adjust, as needed, to keep high-quality production moving and minimize downtime. A variance of just a couple degrees, a few seconds of contact time, or a fraction of an ounce can be the difference between a quality product and wasted time and money.

Our malt manufacturer had a unique challenge. Due to land restriction, they needed to create a vertical production line in a converted four-story building. Working collaboratively, the system design allowed the operator to work from any level where HMI programming controlled all processes including safety shutdown.

How Can We Help with Your Food Processing Automation?

As experienced control panel builders, we have the secret ingredients you need to cook up more profits. Call us today and let us put our industrial control panel knowledge to good use for you.

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