Elipse Software

Needs

Located in Rio Grande do Sul, south of Brazil, with headquarters in Restinga Seca and a branch in Rio Pardo, Sulmix is a family-owned company specializing in anti-caking additives and vegetable ingredients for animal nutrition, with a client portfolio comprising meat and animal feed producers. The market regulations of this industry in Brazil require high production standards, so Sulmix needed a solution that was specially tailored to their products and featured great trackability, efficiency, and quality levels.

Sulmix headquarters in Restinga Seca

To meet these needs, the company has opted for Elipse E3 in both plants. With the platform created by Elipse Software, the global software developer of real-time and remote process management solutions, Sulmix has been able to remotely control all steps in the production chain, from start to finish. We must also emphasize the role played by Inovetech as the solution provider that implemented our software in the application at Sulmix.

Solution

The automation system implemented at Sulmix features Elipse E3, whose server communicates with Altus PLCs via Modbus TCP/IP protocol. A large chunk of data is acquired for monitoring purposes directly at the plants’ Operations Control Centers (OCC).  In addition, OCCs exchange working parameters according to the product formula required by the client.

OCC at Restinga Seca plant

Formulas and production orders will arrive through direct communication between Sulmix ERP and Elipse E3 via an API developed by Inovetech. The API broadcasts the information collected from the ERP to the software database, which in turn sends it to the plants’ PLCs to control production.

Through this interaction, Elipse E3 can monitor and access information from all devices and processes taking place in the plants. With the software, Sulmix is now able to issue histories and track their orders more precisely, safely, which is a must for a company holding an important share of the market of producing raw materials for animal feed in Brazil. Should any anomaly take place during production, Elipse E3 will immediately fire alarms to the maintenance team so that they can solve the problem swiftly.

Additionally, the software allows testing the functioning of screws, lifts, valves, mixers, sieves, pumps, mills, and other machines used for manufacturing diluents. As for mills, the software can also monitor operation times, both in real time and when the last maintenance took place. All tests can be performed individually, with no need to restart production.

As seen above, any anomaly in the plant will fire an alarm to cease production and activate maintenance. If the anomaly is diagnosed as mild and there is no direct damage to the production (for example, a broken sensor), the maintenance team can report it to management via Elipse E3’s alarm bypasses and recommend that production restarts immediately.

The alarm bypasses are also indicated for any occurrences taking place near scheduled maintenance times, as long as it is not a mechanical failure that requires immediate action. In this project, the alarm bypasses are validated by the management team working alongside Sulmix’s operation and maintenance crews.

Screen bypasses

To reinforce this control, the software allows recording maintenance data such as device, user, time, how long since last repair, part, and service description. With these details, Sulmix can monitor the maintenance routine and evaluate equipment quality by analyzing how long it takes between repairs.

Maintenance control

Elipse E3 can also monitor, in a wide, illustrative manner, the whole production chain via real-time animated synoptic views. These views allow supervising devices and variables comprising the productive process, like screws, lifts, grinders, air pressure, sterilization temperatures, electric discharge in pumps, among others.

Finally, Elipse E3 facilitates the maintenance in both plants by following the status of their sensors and actuators. Therefore, operators and the maintenance team can access PLCs and switchboards to ensure the whole staff works in a safer operation.

Benefits

To Marcel Fraga, Sulmix’s Administrative Director, the interaction between Elipse E3 and ERP is the standout of the application. This benefit is also extended to their clients, who can rest assured their purchase orders will be handled with proper care.

“Integrated to ERP, Elipse E3 lets us quickly follow and track the information regarding production orders and formulas. Consequently, we can ensure the clients that their orders are being developed and delivered following the best practices in the market,” says Fraga.

Among the main benefits brought to Sulmix by Elipse E3, we highlight the following:

• Manufacturing orders control: Purchase requests are produced accurately, with no human errors. Clients can rest assured their orders are manufactured and delivered with care.
• Sensors control for greater trackability of processes: Sulmix guarantees goods are manufactured with best market practices and following all inspection agencies’ standards.
• Equipment, pumps, and actuator devices control: Safer work environment and best labor conditions for all collaborators.
• Plant automation control via Elipse E3 screens and commands require only one operator working on it at a time.
• Elipse E3 offers swifter, more efficient diagnoses to failure in machines. This leads to optimized production, since there are fewer stoppages for corrective purposes in the plants.
• Real-time monitoring and diagnosing: Sulmix’s maintenance sector hold high availability levels for their equipment, thus ensuring the high quality of their inputs.