Rockwell Automation Speeds up Time to Market and Expands Global Reach
Harmony Enterprises designs custom recycling and waste management solutions, so they are experts at creating horizontal balers to meet specific needs, on a tight deadline. But by teaming up with Rockwell Automation, at a higher level, they have made the custom design process happen on-time and on-target for the global baler market, and specifically for a multi-national bottling company.
Harmony began designing a new SSG2 horizontal baler for a large, multi-national bottling company in 2010. The multi-national bottling company was looking for a high-capacity baler for one of its bottling facilities to be delivered in just 3 short months. Harmony’s team of engineers were up for the challenge, but also knew that there was a lot to learn about the enduser’s design requirements in order to meet the deadline.
Although Harmony Enterprises had been using Rockwell Automation’s programmable logic controllers (PLC) for years, Steve Cremer, President at Harmony, and his team knew that this project required more control and integration. To Cremer, it was an opportunity to expand his team’s expertise to an integrated control platform and design a new piece of equipment to meet expanding customer needs. Cremer explains, “We want to design equipment that will still lead the way five years down the road and beyond.” Harmony Enterprises again teamed up with Rockwell Automation for this aggressive custom project, to gain the higher level of integrated machine solutions and safety control for the baler, as well as engineering support.
“We want to design equipment that will still lead the way five years down the road and beyond.”
Through this partnership with Rockwell Automation, Harmony Enterprises was able to provide their multi-national bottling customer with an improved time-to-market that also met all their cutting-edge needs. For instance, the enduser, as well as Harmony engineers, can remotely access, diagnose, and service the baler through the Ethernet network. The onsite displays make it easy to view maintenance tasks so operators can address issues and sustain higher levels of production. Werner Electric, Harmony’s local Rockwell Automation Distributor, also helped with the design process, such as advising on panel layout and wiring practices to reduce the panel size. On top of all the integrated custom design features, Harmony Enterprises was also able to meet their customer’s three month time-to-market request.
Future customers who buy similar horizontal balers from Harmony Enterprises will also benefit, through reduced engineering time and the use of widely accepted controls. For example, during the next two years, Harmony engineers plan on using the repeatable electrical design in 75 of its H60XL horizontal balers to a new European customer. The design of the horizontal baler includes and meets all global design specification for entry into the European market. Cremer comments, “Rockwell Automation solutions have really opened doors for us to the European market and the rest of the world…”
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