Overview

Actemium Avanceon partnered with a customer to design and build an enhanced solvent system and a more efficient batching process for their roofing adhesive product. Our team developed an integrated solution to manage the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) process, control product batching, execute product recipes, and manage solvent delivery throughput, all within a single, cohesive system.

The Challenge

The project required rebuilding a legacy system while expanding its functionality and maintaining continuity across the entire batch control process. From the operator’s perspective, all aspects of the system needed to work seamlessly together.

Operating and maintaining a multi-purpose system can be challenging for both engineers and operators. Recognizing this, the customer requested a complete system rebuild rather than incremental modifications to the existing batch system. This approach allowed for greater flexibility, improved usability, and a more maintainable long-term solution.

Analysis

Understanding the existing legacy system and recreating it with new functionality presented a significant challenge, particularly given the project’s aggressive timeline. To address this, Actemium Avanceon began by developing detailed process diagrams and tables to clearly communicate our design approach and validate customer requirements before development began.

We also presented proposed PLC modifications using phase transition tables, allowing the customer to review and confirm how each batch process would function before implementation. In parallel, we collaborated closely with the customer to establish HMI design standards for the new system.

Given the complexity of the project and the limited schedule, Actemium Avanceon divided the work between two engineers, enabling PLC and HMI development to progress simultaneously before being fully integrated.

The Actemium Avanceon Solution

Because the customer did not have a commercial batch management system such as InBatch in place, Actemium Avanceon developed custom batch logic using Wonderware System Platform’s scripting capabilities. This approach reduced costs while giving the customer direct control of the batch process through the HMI. The System Platform objects communicated with HMI graphics and the SQL database, resulting in a significantly improved operator interface.

Key components of the new system included:

• Batch Tracking: Operators can now view the currently running batch as well as previously completed batches across all HMI screens.

• Compound Weighing: The system allows operators to pre-weigh compound ingredients into small vessels for later addition. Ingredients are selected from a predefined list, weighed within specified tolerances, and accepted by the system. All associated data is stored, allowing ingredients to be added when needed and reducing downtime. This represents a major improvement over the previous manual process, which provided no data logging.

• Batch Recording: Using an SQL transaction manager, batch data is uploaded from the PLC to a database for long-term storage and analysis. In the event of defects, the customer can now review historical data to identify and troubleshoot process issues.

• Recipe Builder: Actemium Avanceon enhanced the recipe creation infrastructure by separating recipe creation and editing workflows. A final checksum was added to verify that all recipe steps completed correctly, a capability that was not possible in the legacy system.

• Solvent Delivery: PLC logic integrated with the HMI touchscreen allows any solvent to be delivered to any receiving vessel within the system. Additional functionality supports queuing both manual and automatic solvent delivery requests.

Prior to project completion, the Actemium Avanceon team delivered approved FAT and SAT documentation, conducted comprehensive system demonstrations, and provided complete operator training ahead of go-live.

Project Team

While assigning the same personnel to both PLC and HMI development would have been ideal, time constraints required a parallel development approach. This division of work enabled the team to meet the customer’s go-live deadline successfully.

The customer’s engineering manager played a key role throughout the project, overseeing development of the batching system and validating both the overall concept and implementation strategy.

Conclusion

The new system significantly improves the quality, efficiency, and reliability of the batching process. Product is now produced faster and with fewer defects, while the new compound-weighing functionality reduces downtime by allowing vessels to be prepared while a batch is still running.

In addition, the system provides comprehensive process data that supports troubleshooting, continuous improvement, and more informed decision-making. The fully integrated solution is faster, more stable, and more reliable, positioning the customer for long-term operational success.