PROJECTS

PROJECT TYPE

Functional analysis

Improve overall and operating performance

Process automation

CLIENT

Poultry farm

SECTOR

Food processing

REGION

Centre du Québec

Company

We had the pleasure of working with a large poultry farm housing more than 100,000 laying hens. Our client was a modern business equipped with leading-edge technology in terms of energy efficiency, animal welfare, production systems and process automation.

Mandate

We were tasked with the development of a monitoring and control system to dry droppings. The system had to transform in less than 24 hours 9 tons of wet manure into 3 tons of 90% dry manure. Our client wanted to have a more robust and reliable system, and an easy-to-operate, visually user-friendly operator interface. The following element also had to be included:

  • User-friendly diagnosis and alarm page for operators
  • Configuration menu accessible only to the director
  • Reliable local technical assistance to remotely support and diagnose the system 24/7
  • System allowing for quick user control and backup of the interface

Challenges

  • Need to effectively replace a not very reliable or user-friendly European system from an equipment manufacturer with poor after-sales service and technical assistance
  • Presence of 100,000 laying hens, which means that any drying system disruption quickly leads to serious odour problems that must be avoided at all costs

Benefits

  • Local technical assistance
  • More robust and reliable system
  • Better operator control over the procedure
  • Less shutdowns and shortened downtime
  • Reduced maintenance costs
  • Lower environmental impact and better relations with the community

Solutions

Working together with the client led to implementing the following solutions:

  • Replacing electronic boards with a PLC
  • Replacing the 6-inch black-and-white interface with keyboard by a 12-inch color touchscreen operator interface that displays more information on a single page and animated motions
  • Complete update of all the electrical drawings (power and control) of the drying system
  • Implementing a bypass system that allows to temporarily deactivate a sensor to complete a drying cycle
  • Training all system administrators and operators

Efficiency gain estimated to + $15,000 annually

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