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Brewing, Drink and Dairy Processing News
News Release from: APV | Subject: APV Production Server
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 July 2004
Improved product quality at the Pernod
plant
APV France, an operating unit of Invensys, has commissioned a major process and automation project at the Thuir plant in France where Pernod manufactures its Suze aperitif, improving plant capacity
APV France, an operating unit of Invensys plc, has commissioned a major process and automation project at the Thuir plant in France where Pernod manufactures its Suze aperitif This fast-track project was completed in just nine months, dramatically improving plant capacity and ensuring that product quality is maintained more consistently
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 10 Jan 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Launched in 1889, Pernod's famous Suze brand owes its characteristic bittersweet taste to a wide range of plant extracts, including flavours and fragrances of gentian.
This in turn is the result of meticulous preparation, including a distillation process for the extraction of aromatic wild roots.
The new process and automation system at Thuir had to meet a number of stringent demands set by Pernod.
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For example, existing processes had to be optimised for consistently high product quality and increased capacity, while real-time plant intelligence was needed for performance analysis and sustained performance improvement.
The new system also had to allow for the accurate registration of all manufacturing parameters in process cells to ensure equipment traceability.
In addition, it had to reduce the risk of unscheduled disruption to production and increase plant maintenance efficiency at the same time as supporting an open architecture for the integration of third-party software.
In other words, Pernod required a fast-track solution that was well proven and would remain cutting edge.
The proven beverage process know-how of APV combined with the ArchestrA based APV Production Server technology were just the right fit for Pernod's Suze plant.
It perfectly matched Pernod's objectives along with its desire for long-term investment security.
From the scalable set of highly functional software components of the APV Production Server the following components were used.
APV Visualisation and Event/Alarm Management based on Wonderware InTouch HMI software.
Reporting for Operators, Quality Management and Production Management using Wonderware ActiveFactory reporting and analysis tools.
"Process Cell" - APV unit traceability reporting and analysis tools.
Wonderware Industrial Application Server.
Wonderware IndustrialSQL Server Historian.
Microsoft SQL Server.
INRA - third party process analysis software.
One of the unique features of the APV Production Server is its ability to combine process know-how with data integration, transforming fragmented data into real-time plant intelligence.
As the Suze manufacturing process is very specific and includes multiple process stages, the "Process Cell" option of the APV Production Server was the natural choice for the traceability requirements of Pernod.
Process Cell provides a set of pre-defined templates, which can be individually configured and deployed for each piece of process equipment to allow full recording, analysis and traceability.
The open architecture of the APV Production Server along with the ArchestrA infrastructure and its various components, such as the MS-SQL data-base, also allowed easy integration of third-party software at Thuir.
Pernod has developed this software in cooperation with the research department of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) to analyse specific process parameters.
Along with its pursuit of open architecture solutions, Pernod opted for PC-based control to provide tight integration with the plant intelligence functions and the IT infrastructure.
Four Invensys Intelligent Integrators "Soft PLCs" using APV process orientated language (Paracode) control the Suze manufacturing process.
For the process operation, Pernod selected APV valves with AS-I interface.
The AS-I network was also used for all other field devices and included a decentralised installation of PLC Input/Output systems.
Commenting on the new system, Mr Leroux, Production Director at Thuir, said, "The new APV process and automation system allows us to improve the plant capacity and achieve a consistently high product quality.
Based on the plant intelligence provided by the APV Production Server we can analyse all relevant process parameters for a sustained high performance".
Meanwhile Mr Nitzel, Technical Director at Pernod Ricard headquarters in Paris, sees benefits way beyond the Thuir plant.
"The plant intelligence provided by the APV Production Server has fostered a culture of continued improvement within the Suze manufacturing team and beyond in the Pernod organisation.
This will ensure that we will sustain high-efficiency plant performance," he said.
"We were also impressed that APV could start-up the new process and automation system within our scheduled due dates for this fast track project of only nine months, which was particularly challenging.
This is really an exceptional performance and achievement mainly due to the excellent and tight collaboration between the team of Pernod and APV," he concluded.
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