Pork pies, pasties and PLC control
15 Jan 2000
Who said vegetarianism was sweeping the country? At Pork Farms Bowyers plant in Nottingham more than 3million savoury items pies, pasties, sausage rolls and other delicacies roll off the 'Hot Pie' lines every week.
Keeping the plant running at optimum efficiency is the job of an advanced GE Fanuc Cimplicity HMI/Scada system linked to Series 90-70 PLCs. Designed and installed by Fanuc's Fastrac systems house partner the Cadalec Group, the new system replaces an earlier Fanuc system controlling the specialised units that store product between the baking ovens and downstream packaging lines.
As part of the process, the pies and pasties have to cool to below 5 C before they are packed and wrapped a process that can take an hour or more, even with forced cooling to the two storage units.
