Canary software is being used by a major cheese producer and re-packer (privacy requested) in Wisconsin, and has been successfully implemented to assist the production process. Canary's data historian and Axiom software is being used to monitor and provide trending solutions for all data sensors in the plant, including temperatures, pressures, utilities, and production numbers.
Previously, they used an HMI trend package that became outdated and the plant engineer discovered the Canary software package, including both the process data historian and trending solution, and has found it to be an incredible asset. Currently, they are using an RSLinks driver for their OPC connection to all their networked PLCs, which is then connected to a PC hosting the Canary historian software. The Canary logger is collecting data for 150 tags, but could easily be scaled to 10,000, 100,000, or even 10,000,000 data points as needed.
The user states that the difference between the previous trends and the Canary trends are much easier to use.
“We would have to write code to get it to Microsoft access format for the trending of the chart. I can make a chart in less than five minutes, if that long, with Canary. All I have to know is what I want to see and crank it out. It’s nice because it can be personalized to look at certain things, and I can customize the chart. The flexibility is fantastic. We have a much better idea of what is going on in the plant."
"Before, it was so difficult to do anything, that we just didn’t do it. We are looking at things we never trended before. I work the day shift and take care of the controls. Things would happen at night and the guys would talk to me but I would not be able to help them. Now, I can go back and look at what actually happened and say 'Oh, there it is.' I can see what they are talking about.
Various individuals with different levels of responsibility leverage both the real time data historian as well as the process data trend charts within the plant. Questions are now quickly resolved without wasting potential productivity or crucial production time.
Inquiries such as "What was the air temperature in the processing room last night? Why did it get cold? Which valves were opened and closed at certain times?" can now be answered without having to find key personnel.
The operators and management have quickly learned to better diagnose problems and have transformed their process into a more efficient and cost saving model. With every trend chart made they improve the overall plant capability and become better operators while increasing their understanding of their process data and data historian.
Learn more about how Canary software can help improve your process.
