SOLUTIONS FROM CRG LOGICS
ControlLogix® Programmable Automation Controller
• High speed, multidisciplined control
• Trending and data collection capabilities
PanelView™ OperatorInterface Terminal
• Improved data access
RESULTS
Reduced design time, development costs and time-to-market
- 50 percent reduction of design time and time-tomarket
- Significant decrease in development costs
Reduced cost of additives for end user
- 30 percent savings of additives from the accuracy and reliability of the controller
Reduced changeover time for end user
- 20-25 percent faster changeovers due to the decrease in cleaning time
Reduced maintenance issues for end user
- Elimination of approximately 99 percent of typical maintenance issues
CRG LOGICS REDUCES DESIGN TIME AND TIME-TO-MARKET OF BLENDING MACHINES BY 50 PERCENT WHILE MEETING NEW CUSTOMER  NEEDS
BACKGROUND - CRG Logics Inc. is a full-service supplier of auxiliary equipment for the plastics extrusion industry. The Green Bay, Wis., Company works directly with end users to design and install blenders that deliver high accuracy and reliability.
End users of these machines include manufacturers that produce plastic films for a wide variety of retail products. The blenders incorporate off-the-shelf technology, yet are flexible enough to meet specific performance requirements in applications such as food, medical device and pharmaceutical packaging.
In this industry, a blending machine takes various resins (usually in pellet form) and blends them together to make a plastic film.
A single type of plastic film — for example, one used to make a cereal bag — might require several resins. One resin might help extend the shelf life of the bag, while another might enhance brightness of the color. Once these resins are properly blended, the machine feeds them into an extruder that converts them into the plastic film.
CRG Logics’ line of continuous gravimetric resin blender machines, called SIMPLICITY, has the ability to blend two to eight different resins simultaneously. The SIMPLICITY blender uses industry-proven components such as maintenance-free vibratory feeders that perform simultaneous metering of the additives, eliminating the need for mechanical mixing while consistently producing the desired blend.
CHALLENGE - Traditional blending systems use custom-design boards to control screwand-auger algorithms within the various machine processes. This proprietary control system is prone to premature obsolescence, is very susceptible to noise, increases additive expenses and does not integrate with other devices well. And because these are custom-designed, they are not often easy to maintain and upgrade.
“A lot of the custom controllers available in the extrusion industry have proprietary communication protocols,” said Mike Rasner, vice president, CRG Logics. “Connecting them to a host device can be a very difficult task.”
SOLUTION - CRG’s blenders are built on an off-theshelf Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) platform that controls the blend system and its associated vacuum loading operations. Unlike other control options, a PAC integrates the full range of automation disciplines including sequential, motion, process control, drive control, safety and information.
By using an integrated control platform, CRG Logics’ customers have wider access to information, while maintenance personnel can more easily operate and troubleshoot the machines. The control system is equipped with a color, touchscreen monitor with built-in help screens to provide the operator with an easy-touse interface. The units are designed to deliver high accuracy and low maintenance with minimal waste and reduced change-over time.
Since its inception in 2000, CRG Logics has been using the Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix® controller from Rockwell Automation as the control platform for its blending machines. The company initially got its start retrofitting obsolete control technology with off-the-shelf controls, and later standardized its blending machines on the ControlLogix controllers and Allen-Bradley PanelView™ operator interface terminals.
The Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controller leverages the Rockwell Automation Logix control platform including a common control engine, networking technology and communications services to increase functionality, scalability and flexibility while reducing costs.
“Programmable controllers are highly accurate and offer a high degree of reliability, which helps with total system functionality and integration,” said Rasner. “The need for connectivity to other machines on the extrusion line is critical in the plastic film production industry. The ControlLogix control platform makes interfacing across the line seamless.”
This flexibility showed its value when CRG Logics was approached by its customer, ISO Poly Films. ISO Poly Films, a company that produces plastic films for use in packaging applications, needed blending machines capable of providing high reliability combined with easy operation, maintenance and integration to other devices. Originally using batch blenders, ISO Poly Films was looking for a control platform that could track, trace and relay data to help meet strict regulations common in medical packaging industries.
“Medical packaging is a growing industry where we want to have a presence. Due to the tracking and tracing requirements in this industry, we needed to upgrade our current machines with a platform that provided more advanced communication capabilities,” said Jon McClure, founder and CEO, ISO Poly Films.
ISO Poly Films ultimately ordered the PAC-based SIMPLICITY machine to produce plastics for the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Since these industries require tracking and tracing of the plastic films, the trending and data collection capabilities of the PAC-based machines, along with the communication to external devices, provided additional value to the end user.
“When we decided to standardize on the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controller for our blending machines, it came down to support, quality, familiarity and product performance, and Rockwell Automation came through on all accounts,” said Rasner.
RESULTS - The SIMPLICITY machine allows the customer to change the blend almost instantaneously to make a new recipe. ISO Poly Films has seen a 25 percent reduction of changeover time due to the reduced maintenance and cleaning required between recipe changes. ISO Poly Films has also saved approximately 30 percent on the cost of additives because of the high level of measurement accuracy and reliability the system delivers.
“The SIMPLICITY blending machine is an innovation that far surpasses today’s plastic extrusion industry standards. State-of-the-art equipment is at the core of ISO Poly Films’ operation and a driving force behind our success,” said McClure. “We currently have six production lines that offer a full-range of capabilities and the power and precision to generate 60 million pounds of quality film a year. Our highly automated processes give us the ability to produce the yield our customers expect, to the exact specifications our customers need.”
ISO Poly Films has seen additional benefits from the CRG Logics blending machine, including significant time savings in the machine installation and training, compared to other blending machines they have installed.
“Our goal is to produce accurate, easy to use blending machines, with a good degree of reliability,” said Rasner. “Being able to include technology such as the ControlLogix controller enables us to meet this goal, and have the flexibility to expand and enhance the technology to meet the customer’s evolving needs.”
With the ControlLogix platform standard on its machines, CRG Logics has reduced its development costs, reduced design time and improved its time-to-market by an estimated 50 percent compared to other blending manufacturers. With the help of the automation controller, CRG Logics systems use throughput monitoring and vibratory feeders in the resin blenders to regulate the flow of the additives; ultimately eliminating approximately 99 percent of typical maintenance issues.
The ControlLogix controllers included in the SIMPLICITY blending machines now allow a customer to enter precise recipe ingredient measurements into the machine with relative ease. Depending on the changes in the application, the customer can change or add new ingredients to the recipe mix in varying amounts with a high level of accuracy and consistency.
“The solution is noise-immune and very robust,” said Rasner. “The flexibility and expandability we are able to offer our customers with the ControlLogix controller solution is second-to-none.”
The results mentioned above are specific to CRG Logics’ use of Rockwell Automation products in conjunction with other products. Specific results may vary for other customers.
Allen-Bradley, ControlLogix and PanelView are trademarks of Rockwell Automation Inc.
Publication PAMVP-AP561-EN-P
May 2006
Copyright © 2006 Rockwell Automation, Inc., All rights reserved.
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