Control at margarine plant

A hybrid Fast/Tools SCADA system designed by Yokogawa Australia will control the new margarine processing line at Atlantic Pacific Foods' Rutherford (NSW) plant.

Established in 1985 (under the name W C Caines Pty Ltd), Atlantic Pacific Foods (APF) is a privately-owned manufacturer of Australian vegetable oils and margarine spreads and is a major supplier of private label vegetable oils and margarine spreads to the Australian domestic market.

Part of a planned expansion program at APF, which includes expanding capacity through new plant and automation of the existing production lines, the new control system will build on the success of the existing Yokogawa Fast/Tools system installed in 2005. The control system includes distributed FA-M3s (approximately 800 I/O), dual redundant Fast/Tools SCADA and five thin clients, local HMIs and a range of Yokogawa instruments including magnetic flowmeters, temperature transmitters and SIL-rated transmitters for pressure and level measurements.

Yokogawa will design and supply all PLC enclosures and also provide all engineering and commissioning services.

According to Steve Wise, technical services director at Yokogawa Australia, the control system has been specifically designed to take account of current and future production levels.

"We have been working with APF for more than three years on a number of automation upgrades across all processing areas including refining, storage and margarine manufacturing," he said. "As production has increased the relevant control systems have been modified to meet productivity demands.

Mr Wise said that project planning and some engineering work was well advanced to meet the critical installation schedule required by APF. "We have been given a timetable by our client which suits the building program. Based on current information from APF we will have no trouble completing the project within the timeframe."