A clean solution: Filling processes in washing powder production

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Mifa AG is Switzerland’s largest detergent and cooking oil manufacturer, and in addition to several types of butter, cooking oil and margarine, also produces detergents and household cleaning products in liquid and powder form. A suitable solution has now been found for the company’s outdated washing powder filling system that has done more than just positively affect productivity.

In Frenkendorf, Switzerland, the manufacturing site of Mifa AG, around 250 tons of detergent are produced every day in liquid or powder form across 17 production and 14 filling lines. The finished products are a mainly brand label items for a large Swiss retail group.

Stain remover in powder form and other powder products were previously poured into round tubs in units of 1 kg and 1.5 kg in a filling plant. However, manufacturing using filling systems that were more than 30 years old was becoming increasingly critical for many reasons - spare parts could no longer be obtained from the original manufacturers, and

there were no service technicians available to work on the machines. This meant that reliable operation of the filling plant was no longer ensured. In addition to the problem of sourcing spare parts, the machine no longer met increased demands for accuracy and cycle times. The dosing vibration chutes employed also gener-ated too much dust during operation, which quickly lead to the contamination of the surrounding environment.

Fast and uncomplicated path to a new solution

The modernization work required for the existing filling plant meant that Mifa AG had to decide on one specific approach from a range of possible solutions. Should the existing unit with scale and filling unit be replaced by the previous manu-facturer or should the previous system, including weigh-ing unit, be replaced in its entirety with a completely new solution?

Siemens Weighing technology

The convincing performance of Three-Tec’s simple system appealed to both the users and the configuration engineers, and the decision fell in favor of the Swiss dosing system sup-plier from Seon.

Three-Tec designs and manufactures customized volumet-ric and gravimetric dosing devices with discharge screws adapted for specific materials. To control the dosing appli-cations, Three-Tec relies on the flexibility of standard Sie-mens components, such as SIMATIC S7 controllers, SIWAREX FTA or SIWAREX FTC weighing electronics, single point load cells and HMI Touch Panels. The dosing devices were also specifically designed and manufactured for the requirements of the application for Mifa. The excellent preparatory steps were followed by a very short and efficient assembly process. The material test run proceeded flawlessly, which meant the plant could be handed over for production immediately after installation, and the very first batch of 6,000 units was filled without issue. The operators also received comprehensive training from Three-Tec.

Faultless and precise filling have a positive effect

The conversion of the plant has resulted in enormous advantages for Mifa. Following installation in the middle of July 2013, production has run without error at a speed of 60 doses per minute at the new filling plant. For comparison, the old system filled only half as many in the same time. But what‘s more, dosing accuracy increased enormously - whereas the measurement error inherent in the old system was 2%, the new system has reduced this to 0.5%. Another decisive advantage offered by the new system from Three-Tec comes from the screw conveyors that have replaced the vibration chutes used by the old system. The dust that had always accumulated in the past has now been virtually eliminated.

Thanks to its user-friendly operation via the SIMATIC TP700 Comfort Touch Panel, positioning times have also been significantly reduced. The production line has profited to the highest degree from the positive features of the new

dosing system, which means the productivity of this line has increased considerably.

Dieter Reichenstein from Mifa AG’s engineering department is particularly pleased with the decision and results - the sys-tem has been running without errors or failure since being commissioned.

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The picture shows the SIWAREX WL260 single point load cell, to which a suspended dosing container is attached. The vacuum removal system for dust can also be seen..

The advantages of SIWAREX FTA at a glance

• Uniform technology and universal communication thanks to integration into SIMATIC S7 and SIMATIC PCS 7

• Weight- and/or force measurement with high resolution of 16 million parts, high accuracy of 3x6000 d

• Suitable for all legal-for-trade scale applications • Various functions for auto-tuning and diagnostics.• Legal-for-trade display with SIMATIC standard

operator panels• Stepless or incremental dosage control • Configurable inputs and outputs • Theoretical adjustment without adjustment

weights• Modules can be exchanged without readjusting

the scale

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The spiral screw conveyor was specifically designed to en-able constant and dust-free material transport of the washing powder.