14 March 2011
Tubosider UK decided to upgrade the machine, which has produced helicoil pipes since 1969, after its existing electrics proved difficult and costly to maintain.With help from system integrator, John Merriman & Sons (JMS), Tubosider selected ABB as the sole supplier of the replacement equipment which includes one AC 800M controller, one set of S800 I/O modules, two variable-speed DC drives DCS 800, one Panel 800 operator panel, Compact HMI 800 software and various switchgear. “The controller does the set-up and supervises the run, in return for a limited set of inputs which can be taken straight from the production order: inputs that many more staff members now can make,” says Tubosider’s Engineering Manager Mark Fegan. “The new installation offers far better fault diagnostics so now, if a problem develops, the control system is usually able to tell us where it lies. In that process, the greatly improved technical system documentation adds further to the far better up-time we now get from our machine.“Top management is happier too because they get red hot production figures straight out of the system HMI, specifying what we have been making, how much of it, and when.” Tubosider UK is a leading manufacturer of corrugated pipe from 300 to 3,600 mm in diameter in a variety of stock materials. These pipes are used in civil works such as surface water culverts, storm water and harvesting tanks and tunnels, underpasses and railways. Mike Boston, Manager at JMS and closely involved in the Tubosider project comments: “Another big advantage of the system is that all the major system components come from the same source – ABB. That ensures common principles in everything from design to documentation, and it eliminates interfacing problems.”
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