Industry: Animal Feed
Customer: Integrated Pork Operation
The Challenge
A large integrated hog operation, decided to manufacture their own feed. Because of the record keeping and required precision they wanted an easy automatic way to introduce micro ingredients into their process. They had plans to automate the rest of the feed manufacturing plant, but the micro ingredients represented the best return on investment, and also satisfied the requirements that they had for accuracy and record keeping.
The Solution
Since the system would need to control just one scale in the beginning and would later be expanded to control another scale or scales in the future, the APEC Batch Box was selected as the best solution for the application. The Batch Box is designed to allow the customer to easily expand the system at a later date. This controller integrates with the customer’s existing load cells and scale instrument in most cases. The controller performs an interview process at startup and when the questions are answered, the screens are automatically configured to the customers system. When the system changes in the future, the interview process is performed again, and the system is reconfigured to match the changes.
The Result
A local electrician connected The APEC Batch Box to the micro ingredient scale and the customer started up the system with phone assistance from APEC, but without the need for a costly on sight visit by a technician. When the system needs to be changed in the future to add a scale, ingredient feeder, or mixer, the system will be ready for the changes. The new system gave the customer the capability to automatically produce and track their formulas, including unlimited storage of recipes and ingredients. The system was also able to produce production reports for each batch that were time and date stamped, so the customer could satisfy the needed record keeping requirements.
