Micro Services Group Inc., Valley, Ala., has expanded and enhanced its opening-room control system.
The new system uses Allen Bradley Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) for the control function and
Human Machine Interface (HMI) terminals for the systems animated, color graphical status displays.
These off the shelf products allow the company to provide reliability and expandability at a
reasonable cost.The Allen Bradley PLCs are readily available and allow Micro Services Group to
program opening-room controls for optimum efficiency and minimum downtime. One-button startup
provides an orderly sequence for improved startup. The HMI terminal displays easily interpreted
color-coded graphical machine status. Alarm conditions are quickly indicated, allowing maintenance
personnel to easily troubleshoot the system and find problems. Also included is a modem for remote
monitoring and troubleshooting.The Enhanced Graphics HMI computer can be a supervisory system for
the entire opening room and can connect to any major-brand PLC on existing controls. The messaging
feature can call, page or e-mail the appropriate person in case of an alarm.Efficiency reporting,
production calculations, data logging and report generation for specific plant needs are other
system features. The system can also be networked to other computers.
February 2001
