Bionade filling system
- Fig. 1: The conveyor technology for the filling system begins in the courtyard where forklifts load the pallets with the empty bottles
Source: CAN Newsletter December 2008
The filling system used by Bionade Abfüll GmbH operates reliably at one go – a fact not taken for granted, because the system consists of devices from a wide range of manufacturers. The Wago-I/O-System ensures smooth interaction among these components.
A success story that reads like a fairy tale: The private brewery Peter, located in Franconia, Germany, faced just a few years ago with closing its doors has now marched forward to become one of the top-rated companies in the beverage industry – and this thanks to one non-alcoholic product: Bionade. The rapidly and steadily increasing demand could no longer be met by the existing facilities. Substantial capacity expansion would be necessary if the company’s success was not to be jeopardized by delivery bottlenecks. On the other hand, commercial caution dictated that the utmost care be taken when making investments. The Bionade Abfüll GmbH therefore decided to obtain used components for their system. After a purchasing tour throughout Europe (such as to the pasteurization plant in Poland, the unpacking plant in Switzerland and the case washing systems in Denmark), a filling plant with a capacity of 35 000 bottles per hour was erected in Ostheim. ”And all this at a price for which a company normally would pay for a pasteurizing plant alone at a good manufacturer, such as Krones or KHS,” explains Matthias Hansmann, manager of the Bionade electrical workshop, not without a hint of pride. For this project, the automation specialist Martin Husslein of Husslein Controls & Au tomation Ltd. & Co. KG in Eltmann, and Bionade programmer, Matthias Falk, were faced with a particularly daunting challenge: Providing individual system parts with a common controller. ”We did not have any detailed, finely tuned plans - only goals. And despite this, everything went off OK”, is how Martin Husslein describes the upgrade process. A number of items that are provided as normal procedure when purchasing new plants were just not available, such as CAD (computer aided design) drawings with conveyor belt heights, etc. - a nightmare for a down‑to‑the‑last‑detail planner, but a challenge for the personnel at Ostheim who tackled the project with entrepreneurial spirit, a sense of adventure and a pure talent for improvising.
All of the old control system components had to be completely replaced. ”We were still using old-fashioned technology, along with plug-in logic elements. Here, only a concept that could be adapted to all particularities in each phase of the project was acceptable as a complete replacement,” recalls Matthias Hansmann. Martin Husslein adds, ”The Wago‑I/O-System was, and is, ideal for us. I am able to add whatever I need. When I need more, I plug in more. We never had to set up a second node because the first one was completely full up.” Prior to the construction phase the two specialists expanded their knowledge at the Minden headquarters of Wago in the course of a Codesys seminar; the active phase then began.
