Always in control at the right time

The Compost Bag Company benefits from new Siemens control technology

Efficiency comes with insight. The Compost Bag Company, which supplies the world with compostable films and bags from the Belgian town of Herent, is well aware of this. Together with itsme Breemes the company selected two of its own production lines for the latest control technology from Siemens. That way it benefits from real-time monitoring for the right decisions time and again.

It is worth a lot, says Nils Kern. That feeling of lying in bed at night and thinking: today, I have contributed to a cleaner world. Nils thinks for a moment about how to formulate his words and follows this with a meaningful smile. “Let me say that a lot still goes wrong.  And that it can’t go on like this if we want to pass on our world in the right way.”

And Nils means it. And with him also his colleagues at The Compost Bag Company, where Nils works as a production manager. Here in Herent, Belgium, they make their sustainable contribution wherever possible. Outside, there are several charging stations for electric cars. The only sewage water is that which disappears through the kitchen and the toilets. And the energy that is being used is also green.
 

“We can customise very easily”

Nils can give more examples, but what it all comes down to is: the philosophy of The Compost Bag Company is turning green. “How can we improve? More responsibly and more sustainably? We are working on it every day.”

The Compost Bag Company was once a producer of the classic plastic bag, but nowadays that is quite different. Only renewable raw materials, such as the oil from cardoon thistles, are being used, good for an annual production of nearly 2,500 tonnes of compostable and biodegradable bags and films. The vast majority of them go abroad, including to Scandinavia, Great Britain and neighbouring countries. And those who think that these are always the same organic products will be disappointed. Naturally, thickness, height and length have their limits, says Nils, but within those limits a lot is possible. “We hardly ever say no to a customer. Adjustments, prints: we can quickly get to work, custom made.”f

Metres up

How accurately all those compostable bags and films are made becomes evident in the production hall of The Compost Bag Company. The bio-granulate turns from granules into a viscous mass via blow extrusion. Once solidified, it flies up metres into the air as one long string after which it is cut and finally wrapped. It is a fascinating technique that must go as efficiently as possible. Nils: “In fact we don’t have any waste here, because we recycle rejected bags and films. But that is not really profitable. So we are constantly looking for ways to improve our processes. And we visualise them as well as possible.”

Control and insight, that is what Nils and his colleagues want. Yet, it turned out that for two of the seven production lines this wasn’t easy. Both lines had been around for a long time based on outdated and very user-unfriendly controllers. “That’s why we lacked control”, says Gunter Hendrickx, maintenance engineer at The Compost Bag Company. ”The lines worked, albeit without real-time monitoring. And that while we always want to take the right decisions by making timely adjustments.”

Fully up-to-date again

The best solution for the two outdated lines was not immediately obvious. For where to start? With that question Nils contacted Peter Daems, technical representative for Industrial Automation at itsme Breemes. Together, they looked at the needs and the options. And so, together with the other stakeholders within The Compost Bag Company, they came to the ultimate solution, based on the latest control technology from Siemens. A SIMATIC S7-1500 controller with HMI offers full insight, with the TIA Portal from Siemens as a versatile platform. The solution also includes a Pilz safety PLC as a powerful addition to both lines. Future-proof and advanced; according to Peter, the new controller forms a more than stable base. “The Compost Bag Company is a pioneer and fully innovative. The company does not stand still and wants to be up-to-date wherever possible. And according to me, that is the case with this solution.”
 

“You only miss something if you know it exists”

Just like Gunter, Nils looks back with satisfaction on the collaboration with itsme Breemes. “For us, the company is a supplier. But much more than that, it is a partner who thinks along with us, proposes options and realises the ultimate solution. That was also the case with this process, which once again proved that you only miss something if you know it exists. itsme Breemes took us along into the latest technology and were well aware that in our development as a company we cannot do everything ourselves. Ultimately, it is all about trust and the right expectations. For us, itsme Breemes did a good job on that.”

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