A state-of-the-art control system made to order by Schneider Electric is enabling WCB Ice Cream to expand its business into new markets and applications. The new control system adds new performance capabilities while reducing the equipment maker's control costs.
"Our mission has always been to provide customers with the latest technology in the most cost-effective way," explains Chris Heckler, controls engineer. WCB Ice Cream is the only American company manufacturing equipment for the world's ice cream plants. Its equipment can be found in nearly every American ice cream plant as well as a growing number around the world, from Slovenia to Turkey to Japan.
The new control system enables WCB Ice Cream's ingredient feeder to add more precisely a wide range of dry and semisolid ingredients to ice cream at the custard stage. The simple-to-operate controls automatically calibrate ingredient feeds, enabling ice cream plants to better control the accuracy of recipes and the cost of ingredients. The feeder line can adjust to a customer's freezer capacity, following up to four freezers at a time.
"The growth of premium ice creams packed with multiple ingredients was the driving factor for designing the new ingredient feeder," says Henry Talma, product line manager. "We took the best features from our family of ingredient feeders and feedback from our valued customers to produce a new machine with greater capacity and the ability to handle a wider range of ingredients, from the jam-like consistency of fruits to nuts to whole cookies. It has a wider speed range and runs more efficiently, so it helps our customers more precisely control their operations."
Schneider Electric supplied all the hardware for the Magelis® industrial PC-based control system, which incorporates the Telemecanique® Altivar® 31 ac drive, Advantys® distributed I/O, and touchscreen computer panel, along with a unique weighing module developed by Schneider Electric's Industrial Automation Team, which also assembles the control system. Ethernet connects the PC to the Advantys I/O and the weighing module through Modbus TCP/IP, while the drives are connected to the I/O with a CANopen network. The controls system integrates easily, making it versatile for any plant's network architecture.
"Schneider Electric makes components that are both reliable and look good, and the PC interface makes it easy to transfer data and store it in multiple languages on the machine," says Heckler. "They have provided excellent technical and implementation support. We now have the new feeder operating in seven different countries. It's given our customers great confidence because Schneider Electric operates around the world. They know they can always get local technical support and component replacements."
Adds Heckler, "Just like our customers, we want the best technology at the most competitive price. Schneider Electric has helped us to value engineer our machines to remain competitive."
The new ingredient feeder is also opening new markets for the company beyond ice cream manufacturing, says Talma.
"Local bakeries are using it to put cookies into their cream pie mix. A Houston bakery adds candies to cake batter. Other customers feed pickles into meat products or make peanut butter crunchy," he says. "It's a very versatile machine."
