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CASE STUDY

Automated Ingredient Handling System

SCADA-Based Flour Receiving, Silo Inventory, Recipe Management & Batch Traceability for a Bulk Ingredients Facility

The Challenge

A confidential bulk ingredients processing facility needed to modernize the controls and data management for its flour receiving, storage, and mixing operations. The facility receives inbound flour shipments from multiple suppliers, stores them in dedicated silos, and doses precise quantities into mixers based on production recipes — a multi-step process with significant traceability and quality control demands.

Operating without a unified automation system created several operational and food safety challenges:

• No centralized silo inventory system — operators had no reliable way to track which flour types occupied which silos, increasing the risk of cross-contamination or incorrect material usage
• No automated recipe dosing — mixer operators relied on manual measurements and paper-based batch records, introducing variability and the potential for weighing errors across high-volume production shifts
• No lot-level traceability — the facility could not reliably link an inbound truck load of flour to the specific mixer batches it contributed to, a critical gap for food safety recall response
• Receiving workflow depended on operator knowledge — without a system to match inbound flour types to eligible silos, incorrect silo assignments were possible, especially across shifts
• No remote monitoring or support capability — the absence of a VPN-accessible control system meant any post-commissioning troubleshooting required on-site visits

The Solution

Logic Control Systems designed and delivered a complete automated ingredient handling system encompassing PLC controls, a mixer remote panel, a SQL Server-backed SCADA platform, and field instrumentation — integrating flour receiving, silo management, recipe-driven dosing, and full batch traceability into a single unified system.

Main Control Panel

LCS supplied the primary control panel components centered on an Allen-Bradley CompactLogix L3X Series PLC with accompanying I/O modules. The panel also includes an industrial Ethernet switch, an industrial VPN router for secure remote access, 24VDC power supply with surge suppression, and all supporting hardware including circuit breakers, relays, fuses, E-stop, nameplates, and wire labels. LCS pre-wired the PLC rack and I/O modules and shipped the panel components with complete electrical schematics for final assembly and field termination by the site electrical contractor.

Mixer Remote Panel

A NEMA 4X stainless steel wall-mount enclosure (approximately 30" x 30" x 12") was designed for installation in the mixer room. The panel houses Allen-Bradley Ethernet-based Point I/O, an industrial stainless steel touchscreen with client PC, an industrial Ethernet switch, 24VDC power supply, two Rice Lake SCT weigh controllers with Ethernet/IP interface for gravimetric dosing, and an emergency stop pushbutton with guard. The stainless construction meets sanitary requirements for food processing environments.

SCADA System & SQL Database

The automation system runs on a SCADA platform backed by a Microsoft SQL Server Express database, hosted on a dedicated all-in-one PC in the plant's control room. Up to five concurrent SCADA sessions are supported, with the database sized for a minimum of two years of historical data retention. The SCADA system includes the following major functional modules:

Silo Inventory Management

• Operators can assign flour types to individual silos, with the system enforcing type-matching during truck unloading — only silos designated for the inbound flour type are made available for receipt
• Each silo's full compositional history is accessible on demand, showing all inbound lot numbers currently contributing to that silo's contents
• Flour types can be dynamically added to the system as new supplier relationships or product types are introduced

Recipe Management

• Production staff can create, modify, and release master recipes through the SCADA interface — each recipe references up to four flour types with defined dosing quantities
• At the mixer HMI, the operator selects a recipe and initiates the batch with a single Start command. The system automatically doses the correct quantity of each ingredient, drawing from the assigned silos
• A unique batch ID is auto-generated at recipe initiation, incorporating the recipe name, mixer identifier, and timestamp

Lot-Level Batch Traceability

• Forward traceability: a specific inbound flour load can be queried to show every mixer batch it contributed to
• Reverse traceability: a mixer batch ID can be queried to show every inbound lot number that made up that batch
• Traceability records are viewable in a formatted report, supporting food safety audit requirements and recall response

System Overview & Operations

• System overview screen providing a real-time view of the full receiving, storage, and mixing operation
• Software Auto/Hand control available for each piece of equipment, with I/O status monitoring and alarm status and history accessible from the SCADA interface
• User security and authentication controls access to recipe management, silo assignments, and system configuration

Remote Access & Documentation

An industrial VPN router provides LCS with secure remote access to the control system for post-commissioning support — resolving issues without requiring on-site travel. LCS also delivered complete AutoCAD electrical schematics, a full operator manual, and system checkout sheets covering I/O, sequence, HMI, and alarm verification.

Full lot-level traceability links every mixer batch back to the specific inbound truck loads that contributed to it — and forward from any inbound load to every batch it touched. A single query delivers the data needed for a food safety audit or recall response.

Technology at a Glance

Commissioning & Startup

LCS deployed a two-engineer team for approximately one week of on-site commissioning, covering the full system from I/O checkout through final acceptance testing:

• Electrical I/O checkout — all field devices, weigh controllers, and communication wiring verified against the as-installed schematics
• PLC program testing — receiving sequences, silo routing logic, recipe dosing sequences, and interlock functions validated step by step
• Weigh controller calibration — Rice Lake SCT units calibrated for each dosing point, with batch accuracy confirmed across the recipe range
• SCADA functional testing — silo inventory, recipe management, batch ID generation, traceability queries, and report output verified
• Alarm and security validation — all configured alarms tested for correct trigger and annunciation; user authentication and access levels confirmed.
• VPN remote access commissioned and verified, establishing LCS's post-commissioning support channel
• Eight hours of operator training delivered covering normal operations, recipe management, silo assignment, traceability queries, and alarm response

Results & Impact

The automated ingredient handling system transformed the facility's flour receiving, storage, and mixing operations from a manually managed process into a fully traceable, recipe-driven automation platform:

• Silo inventory management eliminates manual tracking and enforces flour type matching at receiving — reducing cross-contamination risk and incorrect silo assignment
• Recipe-driven automated dosing replaces manual weighing, delivering consistent ingredient quantities across every batch and every shift
• Full lot-level traceability — forward and reverse — provides the audit trail required for food safety compliance and enables rapid, confident recall response
• Auto-generated batch IDs create an unambiguous production record for every mixer run, supporting quality management and customer documentation requirements
• Integrated SCADA with SQL Server database provides a centralized, queryable record of all receiving, inventory, and production activity — accessible to up to five concurrent users
• Industrial VPN remote access enables LCS to provide ongoing support and resolve issues quickly without requiring on-site visits
• Delivered operator manual and checkout documentation give the facility a complete reference for training new operators and maintaining the system long-term

About Logic Control Systems

Logic Control Systems (LCS) is a Texas-based industrial automation integrator specializing in PLC programming, SCADA/HMI development, process control, electrical panel fabrication, commissioning, and remote automation maintenance. LCS serves clients across the U.S. in industries including food processing, fabrication, chemical, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, and water/wastewater.

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