All-in-one PLC improves usability and reliability of extrusion equipment

Eurotech Extrusion Technology is an OEM with 20 years experience of manufacturing plastic extrusion machinery. One of their specialties is equipment for blown film extrusion, used in laboratories, R&D and medium sized production lines. In order to meet customer needs the company integrates powerful, attractive control systems to automate its equipment.

Eurotech had previously used Unitronics Vision series all-in-one PLCs to control its extrusion equipment, but had started using a competitor’s product. However, it switched back to Unitronics products following the launch of the UniStream line; these modular, all-in-one PLCs offer a flexible, easy to use control platform. Eurotech uses the UniStream 7, 10, and 15in HMIs with a variety of I/O modules, which snap on to the back of the HMI alongside the CPU to create an all-in-one PLC+HMI controller.

UniStream presented Eurotech with a clear technical and aesthetic advantage. It was able to implement alarm management system to alert users to any errors or problems that arise in real time.  Eurotech also uses the UniStream’s PID to maintain the temperature at the optimal range for the extrusion process.  These features made the UniStream a powerful control option, while the integrated touchscreen HMI —which offers support for audio, video, PDF reader and VNC viewer — makes operating the machine straight-forward and intuitive.

Additionally, Unitronics provides UniLogic, the all-in-one software environment for UniStream, at no added cost. This single environment software enables Eurotech to write ladder logic, design HMI screens, configure communications and more without switching between programs.  Engineers at Eurotech were also impressed by Unitronics ability to offer, in their own words, “quick feedback … in updating the software [based on] customers’ requests and needs.” With Unitronics, Eurotech Extrusion Technologies has built both a technical and commercial partnership.