Controls News 13
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Focus issue:
Cost-benefit of lean technology for operators
Production by Bustaffa
Products by Bustaffa
Roman Freddi,
proprietor of Bustaffa cheese
production
The 20-year-old Bustaffa automation system – the Saia®PCD6 with yellow background –
had to be replaced due to water damage.
The Bustaffa automation system following repair of water damage. Renovation was carried out
during operation without any production shutdown. The SCADA system remained unchanged.
Industrial cheese manufacturer
Bustaffa
This is a great example of the benefit of a
long life cycle and the secure portability of the ap
plication code.
Bustaffa in Montova (Italy) have buildings in which
1000
staff daily produce 24 000 kg of cheese, with an
annual turnover of 400 million euro.
Since 1989, all the automation at Bustaffa has been
carried out using Saia® PCD controllers.
In total there are 60 Saia® PCD-CPUs with 8350 I/O
points in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, 365 days a year.
In 2008 a storm resulted the fabric being heav-
ily flooded. The control panels containing the
Saia® PCD6 controllers were briefly flooded with
dirty water.
The 14 controllers affected did work again once
they had been dried out, and production was im-
mediately restarted. However, the flooding caused
corrosion of the contacts led to intermittent faults
that reduced production reliability. That is not an
acceptable long-term situation, particularly in food
production.
The proprietor of Bustaffa, Mr Romani Freddi,
thought he was facing a major problem. He would
have to invest millions and shut down his business
during renovation. Because of the startup and tran-
sient phase of the new system, product quality and
quantity with be on high risk. A nightmare for own-
ers and operators.
Thanks to the life cycle and portability commit-
ments of Saia-Burgess, the upgrade was carried out
at a fraction of the cost without any loss of produc-
tion. During operation, 14 Saia® PCD6 controllers
over 20 years old were replaced with seven newest-
generation Saia® PCD3 controllers. The programmes
were ported over and new web and IT functions
were added.
Mr Stefano Robdella from system integrator Artika
explained in a short video (en1336c) how the up-
grade happened and how he experienced it:
The application is also available as a compact Power
Point presentation en1336d
Summary
The additional costs for an automation system sup-
plier to provide a long life cycle and high portabil-
ity is very small. It is therefore incomprehensible
that investors and operators do not invest in such
qualities for their systems. The savings for users are
ten to 100 times higher than the extra costs for the
manufacturer. In a case like Bustaffa, the savings
(
and therefore the benefit) runs into the millions of
euros.
So far we have only looked at the financial aspect.
Users must decide how much added value they
gain from peace of mind and less stress in their daily
business.
