Machines that keep working and report what they did

An operator presses the start button, waits for the filling machine to finish, walks to the labeler, and presses start again there. At the end of the day, someone counts the pallets and types the number into a spreadsheet. If the line stood still for an hour, nobody remembers exactly why the next morning. That is how many production lines in the Netherlands run: the machines are good, but the steps between them are manual work.

Start with the real production sequence

Most downtime is not in broken machines but in the handoffs. A machine waits for an operator who is busy somewhere else. A batch runs on because nobody saw the temperature getting too high. A changeover takes half an hour because the settings hang on a piece of paper next to the machine. Each of those moments costs a few minutes, and at the end of the week that is a day.

We first look at where that happens. We walk a shift, talk to the people on the line, and write down where someone steps in because the installation cannot do it itself. That is the list we go to work with, not the wish list of the machine vendor.

Controls operators can understand

In practice, industrial automation means a PLC takes over the steps that people now string together. Sensors report that a product is ready, the controls start the next machine, and when something is off, the line stops in a controlled way instead of an hour of downtime. We program that PLC, design the operator screen, and make sure the schematic and the I/O list match what is really in the cabinet. We write the code so your own maintenance team can read and change it.

If you already have a PLC brand in house, we work with it. If there are machines that are mechanically good for years but have controls nobody makes parts for anymore, we pick that up through Machine retrofit. And if a robot arm has to go between two stations, that is Robotics integration, with the same controls as the base.

Commission with a controlled stop

A factory cannot stand still for two weeks because we are programming. That is why we first rebuild the program on a test setup, with the same PLC and a simulation of the sensors and drives. There we run through every step, including the awkward ones: what happens when a sensor fails, when someone hits the emergency stop, when the power drops for a moment. Within ten business days, we show on that setup how your line will respond, so your operators can look along before anything changes in the factory.

Only when that is right do we come to the floor. We plan the switchover for a moment the line is down anyway, such as a weekend or a changeover. Your old way of working stays available until the new one has proven it can handle the work. If you then want it in writing that the cycle times and the temperature curve are right, we bring in automated test systems for that.

Connect the line without exposing control

A PLC knows exactly how many products went by, how long the line stood still, and why. That information usually stays in the cabinet. We get it out. The controls report counts, downtime, and faults to your ERP or planning system, so the retyping at the end of the day disappears and the production manager sees the next morning what happened. If you want overviews of that across weeks and months, it connects to Data and reporting. The data goes to a server in the EU or simply stays on your own network.

The program, the schematic, and the documentation are yours. We deliver a backup of everything and show your maintenance team how to make a change themselves. If the first conversation shows that your problem is solved with an extra sensor and a timer relay, we tell you right away and build nothing bigger.