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37FALL 20 02 • h o t l i n k sh o t l i n k s • FALL 20 0236
C A S E S T U D Y
French Dairy Milks Profits from
Automated Process SolutionSolutions from Invensys ProductionManagement companies deliver newlevels of efficiency.
ALSACE LAIT, A FRENCH DAIRY,HAS CREATED A REPUTATION FOR
HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS AND WORKS
HARD TO MAINTAIN THAT REPUTATION.Alsace Lait specializes in the pro-
duction of fresh dairy products, includ-
ing fresh milk, ultra-heat-treated milk
(a longer-lasting milk that doesn’t need
refrigeration), cream, cheese and drink-
able yogurts. The company’s commit-
ment to quality has earned its
private-label brands international
renown with many retail customers.
The reputation for quality starts
in Alsace Lait’s production facilities,
where the focus is on product
quality and flexible manufacturing
processes. This implies improved quality
assurance and optimization with
absolute integrity and consistency of
product manufacture. Building the
quality image for premium products is
key to further develop customer loyalty
and market share.
The flexibility of the production
machinery and process equipment is
also critical to satisfying customers’
palates. The ability to turn around
new products in a quick fashion enables
Alsace Lait to meet rising consumer
expectations that call for new taste
experiences.
Helping the company meet its qual-
ity commitment is Alsace Lait’s new
manufacturing facility near Strasbourg,
which was built after a fire destroyed the
old one in 2000. The new facility features
a state-of-the-art automated processing
solution from APV, which was selected
based on its ability to offer a unique
combination of information technology,
automation and process solutions.
It focuses on delivering improved effi-
ciency at every stage of the business.
APV is a member of the Invensys
Production Management family of
brands.
Rebuilding theBusinessF O L L O W I N G T H E F I R E , A L S A C E
LA I T R E S U M E D M A N U FAC T U R I N G
HLS_Fall2002_36_39_APV.qxd 9/3/02 1:46 PM Page 36
W I T H I N T WO M O N T H S . Its key prod-
ucts—fresh milk, liquid cream, fermented
milk and drinkable yogurt were once again
being delivered to store shelves.
A new production facility was
needed, however, and the goal was to build
it by the end of the year.
APV was selected to provide the
process manufacturing solution. APV’s
track record of combining its extensive
process experience with seamless automa-
tion solutions and vertical integration to
its customers’ production planning and
business systems was especially attractive
to Alsace Lait.
The project included several opera-
tional requirements:
• A complete tracking system that
could trace production from raw
milk reception to final palletized
product
• Reduction of operating waste and
production losses
• Optimization of working capital and
production planning,
and resources to ensure a
quick return on project
investment.
APV believes that one of
the key criteria for a successful
solution concept is to syn-
chronize the requirements of the
involved customer’s user groups, including
production management, the information
technology department, operators and
maintenance personnel. Because every
user group has specific expectations, but
different knowledge backgrounds, this
exercise is important to help every stake-
holder visualize the many demands on the
system and direct them toward developing
a common goal.
In the case of Alsace Lait, the goal
was the foundation of a manufacturing
execution system (MES), which facilitates
a simple, easily maintained and operator-
friendly technical integration between the
process control and the enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system on the
business side.
However, every MES is only as good
as the data provided by the process meas-
urement and instrumentation equipment.
To assist Alsace Lait in this area, APV relied
on its extensive process know-how to
ensure an optimized data input to the new
MES.
The System ArchitectureT H E R E S U LT O F T H E E A R LY P R O J -E C T C O L L A B O R A T I O N B E T W E E N
A P V A N D A L S A C E L A I T I S A M E SS Y S T E M B U I LT O N WO N D E RWA R E ®FAC TO RYSU I T E®, W H I C H P ROV I D E S
A VA R I E T Y O F S O F T WA R E C O M P O -N E N T S . The IndustrialSQL Server™
real-time relational database acts as
the backbone for all plant data includ-
ing historical data on each product
batch.
All information is available for
production management and cost
controlling. This allows efficient
production cost analysis and opti-
mized use of raw materials and
energy resources. Downtime and
production balances can be moni-
tored and analyzed for months or
years, allowing for short- and
long-term process improvements.
Wonderware InTrack™ is
the cornerstone of the MES sys-
tem. Its genealogy records provide
a complete history of all materials
consumed during a product‘s manu-
facturing process. The production history
adds other facets to the historical record,
such as the machines used, shifts, users
and their capabilities, quality records and
links to continous process data. All of this
provides a complete picture of the manu-
facturing history of an individual lot, part
or component.
Wonderware InTouch® for Factory-
Suite provides the visualization for a
plant- and operator-centric manufactur-
ing information system. Several InTouch
clients (monitors) provide operator guid-
ance for plant access, display of real-time
and historical trends, alarming, recipe
management, et cetera.
The control system represents a per-
fect illustration of the latest industry
trend, which focuses on connectivity, stan-
dards and open PC-based control that
reduces complicated interfaces between
the control system, visualization and the
MES layer. Therefore, the APV system does
not use programmable logic controllers,
but four Invensys Intelligent Integrators.
The Intelligent Integrator is a rugged
industrial PC in a compact, electromag-
netic-interference-protected metal hous-
ing that supports DIN rail mounting. It
runs the Microsoft Windows NT operating
system with Wonderware InControl™ and
APV ACCOS Paracode.
The four Intelligent Integrators con-
trol 6,000 I/O points including 1,600
valves, 260 sensors/actuators (tempera-
ture, pressure, flow) and 50 pumps.
Connectivity to these field devices is
provided by means of a Profibus DP/PA
fieldbus and an As-i network for the
valves. This allows a decentralized control
concept with a “zero-control cabinet”
strategy, which greatly simplifies cabling
and installation.
Ethernet TCP/IP is used to commu-
nicate between the Intelligent Integrators
and the Wonderware supervisory system.
Alsace Lait appreciates the advantages of
the Intelligent Integrators compared to
conventional PLCs. Some of the benefits
include a universal industrial PC, reduced
spare parts, simulation and training avail-
ability on the same unit, remote diagnos-
tics and maintenance, seamless integration
with FactorySuite and reduced mainte-
nance costs. In addition, because of the
system’s open architecture, third-party
software can be added very easily.
The implemented architecture ensures
that real-time information is available from
raw material to finished goods and deliv-
ered to the operators, production plan-
ners, process engineers, maintenance
personnel and plant management. It
enables them to make the right decisions
quickly.
The production control and MES
functions of Wonderware are comple-
mented by two specialized APV software
packages: CIP Expert and Maintenance
OnLine. The former controls the opera-
tion of the CIP stations, and the latter pro-
vides for preventive maintenance. CIP
Expert compares real-time cleaning data
with historical trends, enabling the opera-
tor to adjust process parameters to
improve performance. Maintenance
OnLine allows for optimum utilization of
installed equipment and ensures that
resources are concentrated where the need
is most critical.
Customer AdvantagesN O W T H AT T H E N E W F A C I L I T Y I S
UP AND RUNNING, PRO CESSING 110M I L L I O N L I T E R S O F M I L K A N N U -A L LY, A L S AC E L A I T H A S C O M P I L E D
A LIST OF B OTH DIRECTLY MEASUR-A B L E A N D I N D I R E C T A D VA N TA G E S
R E C E I V E D F R O M I T S N E W P R O C E S S
AU TO M AT I O N S Y S T E M . The company
believes that the indirect advantages are
just as important as those that are easy to
identify, because they contribute to its
long-term viability in the marketplace.
The directly measurable advantages
include:
• Reduced material losses for raw
milk, intermediate products and
fruit concentrate, based on product
tracking and associated detailed
mass balances;
• Better synchronization of produc-
tion capacity with orders due to
constant analysis of inventories,
priority planning and inventory
optimization;
• Reduced manufacturing costs based
on improved availability of machin-
ery and equipment caused by down-
time analysis, preventive
maintenance, reduced throughput
time and CIP optimization.
Indirect advantages include:
• Automatic quality assurance based
on complete history of all materials.
This ensures integrity and consis-
tency of products and enables long-
term customer loyality/trust.
• Reliability of production tracking.
Detailed customer information can
be supplied to supermarkets as part
of the extensive reporting capabili-
ties. Appropriate reporting is also
generated to reduce costs in
conjunction with governmental
requirements.
• The improved company-wide
data quality allows for continuous
optimization of processes and
equipment.
The Alsace Lait installation underlies
APV’s objective to design every element of
the plant for efficiency. From a single valve
to the systems that operate them, every
component within the plant is focused on
optimum performance to make the overall
business more profitable for today’s mar-
kets and to maintain a sustainable compet-
itive advantage well into the future.
THE END
39FALL 20 02 • h o t l i n k s
C A S E S T U D Y
h o t l i n k s • FALL 20 0238
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