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Polar Provides a Greater Degree of Competitiveness and Flexibility in the Brewing Process
Challenge
To anticipate the market demands
To transition to the new standard
without any decrease in production
Flexibility to create new types of beer
compliant with the ISA 88 standard
Process Optimization
Solution
To set up FactoryTalk Batch
by Rockwell Automation
To program PLCs and develop
human-machine operating interfaces
To train operators, brew masters, and
maintenance and engineering staff
Results
Availability of an open system which
is 100% compatible with the ISA 88
standard: FactoryTalk Batch
Decrease in the total cost of
ownership
Decrease in batch time
Process optimization
Increase in flexibility
Decrease in the time needed to
develop new products
Speeding up the process of
developing new recipes
Increase in the process quality
Background
With 30 industrial plants and over 150 thousand sales points, Polar's activities are focused on the food and
beverage sector. This business organization has the most important production, marketing, and services
infrastructure in Venezuela's private sector, and its products are sold all over Latin America, North America,
the Caribbean, and Europe. In order to take on the competitive alcoholic beverage market and to achieve a
greater degree of flexibility and competitiveness in their beer production, the company decided to implement a
new solution in its batch production process systems, based on the ISA 88 standard. This project was
managed by Rockwell Automation. The Venezuelan group owns three businesses: the Cervecera Polar
brewing company, which produces several brands of beer (Pilsen, Solera, Solera Light, ICE, among others)
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and malt (nutritional drink for children), as well as a line of wines and other alcoholic beverages; Alimentos
Polar, which makes food and cleaning products, among others; and Pepsi-Cola Venezuela, which produces
carbonated and uncarbonated soft drinks.
Challenge
In the brewery, the company had to tackle the challenges of the market by taking on new production
strategies. We decided to anticipate this radical change by using flexible systems which allowed us to
produce new types of beers, and thereby to stay ahead of market demands, said Francisco Ferrero,
Automation Manager at Cervecera Polar's National Department of Industrial Services and Engineering.
He explained that the company had previously acquired process systems developed especially for
beer manufacturing, but the drawback to these was that because they were closed applications that could not
be adapted to the requirements of international standards, each new version they integrated meant a loss in
system engineering and even in hardware. The reason they made the decision to acquire the FactoryTalk
Batch solution offered by Rockwell Automation, based on the ISA 88 standard, was to optimize, homogenize,
and make the control of batch or batchtype processes in the production area in their plants more flexible. The
ISA 88 standard defines the reference models for the implementation of batch process control systems and
allows a high level of flexibility and reuse. We decided on this standard as it uses a standard terminology
which means there is seamless communication between the brew masters, engineers and suppliers; it allows
the processes to be graphically edited rather than by formulas only, without the involvement of automation
personnel. It also combines all the procedures for ach unit into a single procedure
for each type of beer, for an entire cell process, for example the heating stage, said Ferrero. The project was
awarded to Rockwell Automation, the company in charge of the whole process of integrating the solution,
supported by the local integrator Altra S.A., as well as consulting, training, and support services. Rockwell
Automation has wide-ranging experience in the application of this standard, and was even part of
the committee which developed it. This is why products like Factory Talk Batch are compatible with this
application. The two companies have a long-standing business relationship in the container division, but this is
the first project to be done in the production area, and was carried out in the San Joaqun beer-production
plant in the state of Carabobo. Ferrero maintains that Rockwell Automation demonstrated that it had the
necessary experience to successfully implement a solution of this type. The key point was that Rockwell
Automation was compatible with international standards, and that this was the basis of its business approach,
unlike the competitors, who use proprietarytype systems, he adds.
Improvement in batch cycles times, a reduction in the time the equipment is in use, a decrease in the time
that wort filtering units and extraction trains are in use;
Increased production level;
Flexibility, independence, and a reduction in man-hours when developing new recipes;
Improvement in the quality of the process, as it enables the process to be optimized and the degree of
turbidity in the wort to be reduced.
In the mid-term, traditional systems mean a greater cost for our company, but with this process we are
currently able to reduce the total cost of ownership by minimizing the costs associated with process changes,
says Ferrero. The Automation Manager also said that one of the most important aspects for the company was
the increased flexibility in the preparation of the product, increasing the decision making capacity of the
operating staff, and particularly of the brew masters, in order to optimize the processes. Today we have a
level of competitiveness which allows us to take on new markets and stay ahead of the customer's demands,
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he points out. Our brew masters are now the strongest defenders of these systems, whereas with the earlier,
very limited systems, they were rather reluctant and challenging customers.
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