Chocolate manufacturer Halba integrated its roastery into the PCS 7 process control system. This system was already in use in the chocolate tank farm and in the liquid components tank farm. The integration was intended to achieve a consistent look and feel and simplified operation.

Autexis selected the following approach: the ten plant controllers with their individual on-site panels were replaced by a central S7410-5H controller. This eliminates all interfaces within the sub-processes. The existing peripheral modules can communicate with the PLC (programmable logic controller) once equipped with new interface modules. In other words, the existing control cabinet installations could be adopted 1:1.

The visualization was expanded on the existing PCS 7 servers and clients. Two additional clients help maintain an overview on site. A scanner is also available at bean receiving to ensure traceability data. However, it is not only the receiving and cleaning of cocoa beans via the bean silos that are controlled, but also debacterization, roasting, breaking, and grinding—i.e., all sub-processes up to the finished cocoa mass. This mass is then pumped via a pigging-capable pipeline into the existing tank farm.

The conversion had to be carried out over an extended weekend, as a long downtime was not desired. Prior acceptance testing on the simulated plant to test the processes was therefore essential. This ensured that the plant would be able to go into productive operation quite quickly. Since everything was transparently visualized at the higher level, process optimization began immediately afterwards.

‍