AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — December 30, 2011 — Today, Patti Engineering, Inc. — a control systems
integration company based in Auburn Hills, MI with offices in Massachusetts and Texas — announced
the successful completion of an automation project at Inman Mills, South Carolina Plant. Inman
Mills manufactures a wide variety of yarns and fabrics. This is the sixth textile manufacturing
facility Patti Engineering has modernized with custom designed automation technology. In an
industry where margins are thread-thin, automation is a major key to quality improvement and cost
competitiveness.
Inman Mills purchased a pre-owned Autoflow system (conveyors, motors, control panels). The
equipment included an obsolete electrical control system. Inman hired Patti Engineering to design
and install a state-of-the-art electrical control system.
The latest PC hardware, Phoenix Contact’s Steeplechase Visual Logic Controller (VLC) and
Iconics Graphical User Interface (GUI) software were used to build a fully integrated electrical
control system. In addition to the design and installation, Patti Engineering provided training to
Inman’s maintenance personnel, operators, and management team for optimal utilization of the new
system to maximize production.
“Implementing cost effective electrical control system solutions in textile manufacturing
facilities has been a growing niche for Patti Engineering, fueled by word-of-mouth referrals,”
explained Sam Hoff, president of Patti Engineering, “It was a pleasure to work with Inman Mills. We
were impressed with their commitment to implementation of the best automation technology.”
Patti Engineering has worked with other textile manufacturers to retrofit their existing
equipment with new and more advance electrical control systems. Retrofits cost just pennies on the
dollar compared to replacing inefficient equipment, allowing manufacturers to double the life of
the system, adding an additional 15 to 20 years of run time with high reliability and a significant
boost to productivity and accuracy.
Some of the textile ring spinning trolley conveyor systems Patti Engineering has encountered
in other mills have been operating with 15 to 20 year-old PC based control systems with hardware
and software no longer supported by foreign manufacturers.
Patti Engineering’s solutions include additional features not available with the original
machine control. New software programs are written for better support and debug. Configurations and
logging databases are added to give a better history of events to improve debug. Improved
functionality and management capabilities from the GUI are added to run the systems more
efficiently. In addition, Patti Engineering provides US-based customer service with online
engineering support services available 24/7 for support.
Today’s manufacturers struggle with aging infrastructure, increasingly stringent regulations
as well as escalating operations and energy costs. They are searching for cost-effective ways to
upgrade their equipment to meet current and future requirements. Patti Engineering offers
sustainable solutions that help manufacturers reduce costs, improve operations, comply with new
regulations, and save energy.
Posted on January 3, 2012
Source: Patty Engineering Inc./PRWeb
