Data from Numerous Processes Aids Large Salmon Producer

Project Scope:

• Tags: 80,000
• Screens: 150
• Clients: Unlimited
• Alarms: 5,300
• Devices used: 95 Total. Siemens PLC S7-300-1200-1500. Omron PLC CJ1-CJ2.
• Architectures used: Standard
• Databases used: 2 x Microsoft SQLServer, JDBC Driver.
• Historical data logged: 2,000 tags.

Project Summary:

This project has been developed by employees at the automation department of Nordlaks Produkter AS for the Nordlaks group. The project consists of several departments where operators can control entire processes and managers can extract information and data all the way down to the component level.

Problem:

At Nordlaks' factory, there are many different processes that are delivered by many different suppliers. Nordlaks wanted a SCADA system that could collect all the data from the various processes and present them. Security and alerting were also very important.

Solution:

Inductive Automation's Ignition designer and modules solved all of Nordlaks’ problems. Ignition now retrieves data over several different protocols such as Ethernet, Allen-Bradley CompactLogix (Legacy), UDP Driver, TCP Driver, BACnet / IP and Modbus TCP. The system communicates with devices from Siemens PLC S7-300-1200-1500, Omron PLC CJ1-CJ2 and many more like VEGA, SICK, IFM and Schneider.

The system is based around the Vision Module, but also leverages the Perspective Module on the factory floor and in fleet locations for mobile use.

Alarm notifications are sent via SMS and email. Nordlaks can now also adjust the safety specifications all the way down to the component level.

Transcription:

00:16
Roy: I am Roy Inge Østeng, I'm working at Nordlaks production, I'm Project Manager for the biotech water solution oil factory. Nordlaks is a company who got a whole line from small fish to finished product. We also use … making oil. We have used the Ignition for a new water solution. We got there for filtrating and making clean water from a old factory.

00:51
Vegard: I am Vegard. The Head of Automation on Nordlaks. Nordlaks is a salmon processing factory with customers all over the world. The project was to get a overview of the factory and the run time of the factory. Our big problem is that we have so many different suppliers with different protocols. Ignition supports the very majority of these protocols. We have approximately 30 simultaneous users on a daily basis. Our goal is to expand to our fish farms.

01:32
Joachim: My name is Joachim Knudsen and I'm Automation Technician for Nordlaks and SCADA Designer. Nordlaks’ SCADA project from Ignition is an intuitive project for our clients and a secure project for Nordlaks. It's far from a finished project and it's being developed and built on every day. At Nordlaks we have several hundred valves, motors, and pumps and other components. To keep control of all these components, we have to have a top SCADA system. Ignition provides us with all of this.

02:06
Roy: In our department we are 12 people who are using Ignition and I use it to learn the other guys and women how to drive the lines. I can learn them and show them. It's easy to train new people because of the layout. They can see step by step and I can show them the parameters and how they should drive it.

02:37
Joachim: We have been using Ignition now for over 10 years; it is our main management system for process controlling. Our most important module is reporting and alarming and historic management. One of the special features in Ignition is the Ignition Edge, it's ideal for stand-alone HMI if the connection is lost. We want to communicate with all of the components that are installed in our factories. The problem with this is different vendors talk over different protocols. With Ignition, we can talk to all of them.

03:11
Tom: Hey, my name is Tom. I work at... As a Process Technician at Nordlaks Produkter. We use Ignition in our production at the Biotech Department. We use it for running the factory and I can also use it in my workday as a technician. I can take my computer out in the factory. I can use it to run small pumps, valves manually, and I can also have Vegard or Joachim make small programs and to make it fit my workday. So as problems, we can use it in maintenance to make small programs so that we can run small features like pumps, valves, and use it for random... When we are looking for errors and malfunctions, we can also use it for that.

04:06
Vegard: The advantage of Ignition over other SCADA systems is that we can develop new facilities while in operation. We can work several people on the same project at the same time. This is very important in how we work. The cost isn't that important. The flexibility for us to create as many screens and tags as we need is more important. The challenge is that we have so many suppliers with so many different protocols. Ignition supports all these protocols.

04:42
Roy: I didn't expect how many parameters you can get in one picture or one more layout and how easy it is to get all the parameters to get a good layout, easy to drive from one computer. It's very easy to... Maintenance for us in our solution, because if it's easier for the people who are working with us to give or take what we need.

05:16
Joachim: From the Ignition project we have a full overview of our filet hall and slaughterhouse hall. Here is the filet hall, we can see which path is in transit. Here's the slaughterhouse hall, we can see spiral chilling and the overall efficiency on each of the machines. Here we can see the number of fish in the spiral chilling and bleeding tank and control the filling and emptying accordingly. “Start,” “Stop.” There is “Start Washing.” We can separate the fish and the parts.

06:14
Joachim: Here we have the overall equipment efficiency of the cutting and inspecting machine for salmon and sea trout. Based on a given time period.

06:40
Joachim: We control and monitor the entire water treatment plant. Here we can control all valves, pumps, and other components. We can also go directly from Ignition to the selected component in our maintenance system; “Manual Off,” “Manual On,” you can see the status of the motor. We have the setup of the PID. We also control our own ice factory from Ignition.

07:13
Vegard: One problem Ignition solves for us is troubleshooting because it's so easy to connect one or more sensors for logging.

07:21
Tom: It's much more easier. They can do adjustments in-house. We also have another system which is much more complex. We cannot adjust it so much to our production as we use the Ignition, it is much more easy to do things locally.

07:39
Joachim: In the future, we have plans in using more of the Perspective, in our plant in Smolt, we have an automation department that will use only Perspective and not Vision.

07:54
Roy: Ignition will stay at Nordlaks in the future because it's easy to use, easy to change, and it's a good layout