Porta Westfalica 30 sept. 2022 - Masa is renowned for the supply of solid, technically mature and reliable solutions. This includes the control system. The supply of the first AAC plant with complete TIA programming (visualisation system and program) was therefore strategically planned for the long term and implemented properly.

The control system is the brain of each production plant. It monitors and controls all relevant processes in the manufacture of AAC and ensures a safe and reliable course of operation at maximum availability of the plant. For the plant operator, the control system has to be a manageable instrument to handle the increasing complexity within the manufacturing process and the various plant areas. It should not be regarded as a cause for complexity, but as a chance to use the complex possibilities for a simple handling. Based on a further development of the PLC generation of Siemens and the required software for the PLC programming, Masa entered the world of TIA Portal to fundamentally revise the visualisation system and the control system architecture of the Masa plant control software.

With the new Masa plant control system, the customer thus receives - beside the excellent Masa machine technology - a high-quality and consistent control system for the complete plant. The clear user guidance guarantees a continuous production process with high availability. Beside the plant safety, the profitable operation of the AAC plant is another important aspect.

Milestones of the new Masa plant control system for AAC plants

• Continuous automatic operation: In the condition-controlled programming that has now been implemented, the current status of the individual assembly is registered by means of sensors. The possible conditions are stored, depending on the condition, a certain program sequence is started. This makes the handling of the individual plant areas easier to understand. In the event of a malfunction, the system offers a much faster, simplified return to automatic operation after the cause of the malfunction has been eliminated.

• Decentral configuration: In case of a malfunction, individual switch cabinets or control system parts can be switched off separately. With this concept, the total availability rate of the production plant remains high, even in case of a short interruption in a certain segment.

• Continuous visualisation system: Masa uses the TIA Portal toolbox to standardise the operation and visualisation of the plant components. The consequent and consistent operator guidance helps the customer as well as the Masa service staff to locate and eliminate possible disturbances within a short period of time. In each plant area, the individual levels of the visualisation follow an identical basic structure. The process currently going on in the chosen area can be followed in real time with the visualisation system.

• Uniform fault messages: The fault report texts were standardised and formulated more meaningfully. The fault message lines are now displayed uniformly and in short form. The fault message screen displays the faults in chronological order. Each fault message is consequently marked with an item designation so that the operator can find the actual spot of the cause of failure.

• Smaller automatic areas: Masa separates the plant in different automatic areas. Each area can, depending on its status, individually be operated in the modes “Automatic operation”, “Manual operation” or “Service operation”. The smaller the automatic areas, the smaller the area that has to be switched to manual or service operation in case of a malfunction. Masa made a reasonable new division and increased the number of automatic areas in an AAC plant to 48 now.

Direct line

A wide-ranging, excellent in-house competence throughout the complete manufacturing process is significant for Masa. Starting with the planning process and the realisation of the project regarding design and programming down to the acceptance of the project by the customer, Masa covers the complete range of know-how, also comprising process technology. When the project has been given over to the customer, the Masa competence team is still available. The "Electrical" competence team in Porta Westfalica was in charge of the current milestone "New plant control system".

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