When the electrical panel running a South African animal feed mill’s batching line started failing, there were no drawings to fall back on. Operators were stepping in by hand to get batches through, recipe after recipe, just to keep the plant running. For a mill handling maize, soya, and additive blends across multiple destination bins, that’s not a sustainable way to operate.
The problem
The mill’s control panel was unreliable and undocumented. No wiring drawings existed, so every fault meant guesswork before it meant a fix. Manual intervention was required to complete batches, which meant slower runs, more room for error, and staff tied up babysitting a process that should run itself.
The fix
Vision Automation rebuilt the control system around a Unitronics Vision V1040 PLC with Snap-in I/O, replacing the panel and giving the plant a control platform built for the job. The new system manages 12 ingredient recipes end to end, from maize and soya intake through the hammer mill and paddle mixer, with automatic routing to the correct destination bin, whether that’s one of four final bins feeding the wet feeding plant or the grower and finisher bunkers downstream.
Every stage now shows up on the HMI: required and actual dosing amounts, batch and gate status, silo levels, and blockage or fault alerts on the motors and augers across the plant. Operators don’t need to know where a fault is before they can act on it. The screen tells them.
The result
“Simple operation including comprehensive plant information on the User Display. Batch reports and remote access for support.”
That’s the plant’s own read on the upgrade. Batches now run without an operator standing over the panel to force them through, faults show up the moment they happen, and the mill’s team can pull batch reports on demand instead of reconstructing what happened after the fact. Remote access means Vision Automation’s support team can help troubleshoot without a site visit.
Twelve recipes. Automatic bin routing. One screen with the full picture. That’s what a control panel should do.
Running a batching or blending line on an aging panel with no drawings? Talk to Vision Automation about a Unitronics-based rebuild.
