FDBusiness.com

Tangerine Confectionery is a leading UK independent manufacturer of sugar confectionery and branded popcorn. The reasons behind their success include commitment to excellence, innovation, product quality, dedication to the customer and a determination to protect and promote traditional skills in UK manufacturing.

Rob Overton, Engineering Manager at Tangerine Confectionery, explains: “We were increasing our capacity of the factory which meant building some new stoves to cure the product. The boiler we had was from 1925 and had in the past only been working  single shifts, whereas now it was going to be working 24hours a day. It was going to cost money whatever we did so we thought now’s the time to get a new boiler for the extra capacity we needed and have something we could leave unattended for long periods.”

Rob, while researching possible suppliers found that: “Other manufacturers don’t necessarily do all the manufacture in this country – particularly the shell, the most critical part of the entire boiler. I wanted everything from a well-regulated country like Britain.”

The Benefits and Beyond

One of the real benefits Rob has already identified was the automatic closing of valves, and linking the extensive scheduling options to what their stoves are doing over the weekend (when he doesn’t have many people in the factory and the steam demand profile is different). Rob can envisage opportunities in the future whereby the stoves could tell the boiler when to start.

Unity, while significantly ahead of its competitors, remains in continual development. With each Unity customer, Byworth gains new insight into how they can develop the platform further, adding yet more value to the end-user.

Service – A Long-term Support

Unity’s remote accessibility options add a whole new dimension to service support. The shift from a largely mechanical system to a fully digital system offering a wealth of new information could be daunting but with remote access, Byworth’s engineers can see exactly what the site personnel are seeing and offer much more meaningful phone support.

The year-round remote monitoring means that Byworth are aware of problems at the same time as the engineers on-site, and with the trending of data there has actually been a couple of occasions that Byworth have been able to give advice that avoided significant down-time.

Rob Overton makes the point that with Unity, it is much more likely that we can foresee the events that would lead to a problem and stop it before the problem transpires.

Technological Advantages

Unity can be used on multiple devices to ensure optimum operation and visibility of your process.

Rob Overton is logged into Unity via his smartphone: “It means that if something’s happening over the weekend or if there’s a few people in the factory, I can just look at it to see what it’s doing and when there is a problem I receive an email alert.”

Unity can be connected remotely either by LAN, WAN or via a 3G M2M connection. Machine to machine (M2M) devices exchange information and perform actions without manual intervention as an integral part of the ‘Internet of Things.’

Summary

Unity offers unprecedented levels of visibility and fingertip control of every aspect of boiler house technology. It supports the rapid development and worldwide adoption of the Internet of Things as well as the continued growth of M2M technology offering a more meaningful service visit through:

* A –  predictive maintenance and

* B – pre-accessing problems as they develop – Thus, avoiding costly unplanned downtime or abnormal running conditions.

From a central user interface, a built-in touch screen, or remotely via PC, tablet or smartphone, Unity operators can view processed boiler house data and trends relating to numerous boiler and ancillary values.

All alarms and tests conducted are logged and can be exported to a network printer if required; whilst a straightforward ‘traffic light’ warning system keeps users up-to-date with any changes in plant conditions and draws focus to areas requiring attention or adjustment.

This comprehensive, ‘joined up’ approach to the management of multiple processes gives Unity its unique advantage over other control systems, which typically employ third party applications to control each aspect of the boiler house.