Inductive Automation Blog

Ignition Edge, Perspective, and MQTT for 1,000 Wells

The project was started to replace KODA Resources’ legacy poll/response SCADA system for an upstream oil & gas company. The existing servers were out of warranty and support. The solution was to develop an IIOT-ready SCADA system on virtual machines that would support MQTT and the company’s desire to use data to drive the business. The field is very diverse, with approximately 1,000 wells producing both oil and natural gas through a variety of different RTU/PLC platforms, and has been around since the 1950s.

Single Platform Brings Greater Efficiency

This Ignition project encompasses all of the control for cheese manufacturing and retail cheese packaging at Meister Cheese, responsible for converting 225 million pounds of milk per year into final products. All of the automated processes from milk receiving through final packaging are included, and the project supports scheduling, traceability, and reporting systems that have streamlined manufacturing and back-office processes.

Greater Mobility for Large Battery Manufacturer in Italy

Quality assurance, progress reports, and product documentation were done through paperwork. The standard MES solution had a hard time connecting to equipment such as simple scales. It was also difficult to implement needed customizations. This all led to more time needed for data entry, delayed communication of issues, delayed solutions, and a lot of hardware to be maintained by the IT department.

Fast Work, Fast ROI in Materials Science

Grantek created a solution for SiO2 that involved both Ignition and Sepasoft’s Business Connector and Web Services modules. SiO2 was scaling up its production process and also investing in a new ERP system. To get maximum value out of the ERP, SiO2 wanted to implement an MES system to improve work-order handling and reconciliation. The solution, built on Ignition and Sepasoft, allowed SiO2 to reduce the number of ERP workstations needed by about 20. This led to significant savings in licensing costs, hardware costs, and IT operating expenses moving forward. Return on investment is expected within one year. And the project was delivered in approximately one year, from requirements-gathering to commissioning. Grantek helped SiO2 develop requirements; handle work-order management, OEE, and recipe management; and tie into the ERP system with Sepasoft.