Nestlé has long installed the WIN-911 Pro software package as an alarm notification software upgrade for its ice cream production plant.
The food processing, nutrition, health and wellness giant was looking for a simple mobile alert solution to reduce the time between alarms being triggered and the response time of refrigeration technicians.
Before the installation of WIN-911, off-site technicians took up to an hour to respond to alarms and intervene on the system. Since installing WIN-911 Pro, response times have been significantly reduced to less than ten minutes and production downtime has been dramatically reduced and nearly eliminated.
WIN-911 PRO easily integrated with existing HMI (based on GE Digital iFIX)
During a meeting to evaluate the OEE on the plant, it was suggested to Nestlé the use of WIN-911 as a suitable tool to improve its alarm response and distribution system. SmartSight with its WIN-911 product, distributed in Italy by ServiTecno, it is the most present and reliable supplier of alarm software on mobile devices; their technology works well with all SCADA/HMI on the market, in this case the one installed in Nestlé, GE iFIX Proficy HMI/SCADA.
As we said, WIN-911 is compatible with a variety of existing HMI and SCADA platforms, which makes it easy to install software, import existing alarm tags, configure alarm escalation protocols, and get started for field implementation.
To complement the solution, WIN-911 support services are offered if needed throughout the installation, start-up and after-sales process, making the transition simple and seamless.
Alarms on mobile devices (smartphones etc.) reduce technician response times and minimize downtime
Nestlé's primary refrigeration system is monitored by local PLC which controls the parameters and generates a general alarm and several minor alarms.
Temperature alarms measure the outlet temperature of multiple interconnected systems at various stages of production.
Each of these systems, including the spiral freezer, quench tunnels, and raw material and finished product storage areas, require specific temperature settings. The facility's ammonia refrigeration system is also monitored for temperature and ammonia levels to prevent critical failures, such as compressor malfunctions and other downtime.
Prior to the installation and use of WIN-911 Pro, an alarm triggered at the freezing plant of the ice cream manufacturing plant required manual acknowledgment on the on-site SCADA/HMI console.
No mobile communication options were available. If a technician was busy in another part of the plant, or even somewhere off-site, he had to return to the SCADA/HMI console to acknowledge and manage the alarm. This process typically could take up to an hour.
All alarms received the same notification, which meant that technicians had to individually review and evaluate alarms on the SCADA/HMI console. It was difficult to sort them by priority, severity, cause or location, which created the risk of significant product loss due to failures not detected in time or unacknowledged.
Informing refrigeration technicians of an alarm in a timely manner was a challenge.
Some alarms, if not detected quickly, can lead to turning off spiral freezers, tempering tunnels or other equipment: an immediate response is essential to avoid production stops and long times for restarting.
In fact, in the worst case scenario, a problem not recognized in a short time could cause the machine room to shut down, forcing the production line to stop. This caused the loss of primary products, fresh ingredients like cream and egg yolks, varietals and particulates (the swirls of fudge, chocolate chips and other morsels that make Nestlé ice cream delicious).
With WIN-911 Pro successfully installed, refrigeration technicians can now receive alarms as soon as they are detected and triggered, even when they are off-site.
WIN-911 Pro can send alarm notifications to any mobile device, making it easier and faster to get in touch with the right personnel whenever an alarm is triggered.
Manage automated food processing plants safely
Installing WIN-911 was simple. The alarm tags were quickly imported into the WIN-911 software and no major changes to the system structure were required. There was no need to reprogram or change the alarms and their activation remained the same.
WIN-911 Pro has allowed Nestlé to design a correct and advanced notification workflow: its alarms are now customized for a more efficient notification process that sends an immediate alert to the right refrigeration technicians on duty.
Using the same alarm structure and leveraging the mobile alert capabilities of WIN-911 Pro, the Nestlé ice cream freezing plant has streamlined operations, minimized downtime and dramatically reduced response time to critical ice conditions. technicians and maintenance workers.
The flexibility and easy integration of WIN-911 encouraged the Company to suggest the application of WIN-911 in other areas of the plant, such as machine maintenance and handling systems.
Taken from: Nestle Case Study