KHS, with headquarters in Dortmund, Germany, is a market leader in the deployment of aseptic cold filling (ACF) applications for the beverage market. As an international full-service provider, KHS offers the highest level of competence in planning, deploying and maintaining filling and packaging applications for the food and beverage industries. In 2003, KHS generated revenue of 700 million Euros with 3,200 employees around the world.
Eckes-Granini Deutschland GmbH is a market leader in Europe in the fruit juice market. At its facilities in Bad Fallingbostel, Germany, Eckes-Granini successfully deployed an innovative aseptic cold filling application by KHS. Specialty fruit juices are microbiologically sensitive and perishable when exposed. The ACF process allows for fruit juices to be filled into polyethylene (PET) bottles at a temperature of only 68 deg F (20 deg C). The main advantage with the ACF process is that KHS completely eliminated the need for preservatives, thus improving product quality.
KHS standardized on GENESIS32 software from ICONICS, in Foxborough, Mass., to control its applications and machines and to visualize the entire ACF process. The GENESIS32 Software Suite is able to meet KHS’ sophisticated needs for scalability, graphic capabilities and modularity for machine control and visualization.
GENESIS32 communicates via OPC and Profibus to a Siemens S7 programmable logic controller (PLC) and input/output (I/O) modules running on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Because it’s a modular suite of products, GENESIS32 allows KHS to use only the components it needs and to add modules as the complexity and requirements of the process change. All of the ICONICS client software modules are based on OPC technology, which makes it easy to communicate and interact with other automation hardware and software products.
Software breakthroughs
GENESIS32 offers an excellent international language switching technology. Graphic symbols as well as trend and alarm applications can be created once and reused all over the world, resulting in tremendous savings in areas of applications engineering and support.
Another major advantage of GENESIS32 is its integration into today’s information technology (IT) environments. Using GenBroker, OPC and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)/eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) communications technology makes it easy to connect and visualize processes in existing IT structures. Also, accessing enterprise-wide databases is essential when analyzing historical production and business data.
KHS appreciates the intuitive configuration environment of GENESIS32. GraphWorX32 allows for the easy creation of animated three-dimensional graphics to visualize process applications. The Symbol Library provides the application engineers with often-used symbols, and allows users to save custom symbols with all dynamic and language-specific connections for later deployment.
To enhance security functions, the ICONICS Security Server provides a built-in security architecture that supports the 21 CFR Part 11 requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Audit trails and multi-level password protection are built into the Security Server. All operator interactions—including who, where, when and what—are documented and stored in a database.
The GENESIS32 software has helped meet KHS’ high expectations for its ACF application. Both KHS and ICONICS provided innovative solutions in their respective fields, resulting in a major contribution to the quality of Eckes-Granini fruit juice products.
For more information about OPC solutions from ICONICS, visit www.iconics.com/opc/
