Taking a phased approach to the project,
the first Tiger Brands plant selected was its beverages manufacturing facility
in Roodekop, Germiston, 25km east of Johannesburg. The immediate challenges
were linked to the stability of a legacy control system and the communication network
in place. Additionally, the existing control and automation platform had
limited capabilities when it came to batching, reporting and the tracking and tracing
of materials.
As the chosen system integrator, Control
System Integration (CSI) worked with Tiger Brands to execute the project. CSI
has extensive engineering experience including Food and Beverage (F&B) expertise.
Additionally, CSI applies industry best practices and professional governance
models that are implemented jointly with its team of Directors, to achieve project
excellence. The close collaboration between Tiger Brands, CSI and Siemens, ultimately
provided a roadmap to a successful outcome.
Tiger Brands also uses Siemens Totally Integrated Automation Portal
(TIA) as it offers the organisation a unified engineering platform and diagnostics
for all the associated devices on site. Additionally, the WINCC SCADA and PM-Addons
provide enhanced visualisations and product traceability across the entire production
line. It also delivers consistent and specific batching to deliver more
accurate throughput and quality. Tiger Brands can now adjust recipes in a more
robust manner according to the final specified product in the new environment. This
is something not possible with the previous control system. Furthermore, the
Siemens solution presents Tiger Brands with a manageable OPEX pricing framework
for a long-term approach when it comes to moving Tiger Brands onto the Siemens digitalisation
framework.
Managing time
The project commenced in December 2019
with the hardware and software procurement phase. It was completed in August
the following year with the final commissioning and handover process. Furthermore,
this project was commissioned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioning took
place in a phased approach as parts of the plant became available using the new
Siemens technology.
Partnership approach
According to Shailen Toolsi, lead
Process Engineer at Tiger Brands, “One of the reasons for this successful
project is the collaboration between CSI, Siemens, and Tiger Brands, which brings
about efficient technical and sales support. We see a long-term partnership
with Siemens going forward”.
“We are extremely proud to be building
on this partnership with Tiger Brands to demonstrate our expertise through the
digital portfolio. The future of the Food & Beverage industry requires production
that is tailored to customer demands. Our F&B solutions provide
flexibility and higher productivity and with customisation at various sites,
have the capability to customise our offering for the specific case as well as
the entire industry. We look forward to
working with Tiger Brands to further develop solutions that will enable a
future gateway for digitalization projects/roadmap,” explains Claudio Ranaudo,
Senior Vice President, Digital Industries, Siemens Southern & Eastern
Africa.
Tiger Brands has seen value in the
Siemens control system and is currently implementing the same control systems
across another site.