Avebe – A good night's sleep thanks to FactoryScan

Companies often have no idea of their installed base of industrial automation in their factories and warehouses. With the FactoryScan, itsme can create an overview of the current status of automation components such as PLCs. Potato processor Royal Avebe uses the results to update its component inventory and assess their future availability. The scan should ensure that Process Control engineer Johan Wierenga is less concerned with hardware disruptions. He also no longer has to worry about out-of-date inventory.

Avebe has a factory in Gasselternijveen, among other places, where potato flour, protein, and by-products are produced. It's a typical seasonal operation, where production runs at full capacity day and night during the potato campaign. Johan Wierenga and two colleagues are responsible for industrial automation there. If a malfunction occurs during the campaign, one of them can be called at any time. If certain PLC or I/O hardware needs to be replaced urgently, it's helpful to have that type in stock.

Create and enrich overview

That's not a given in industry, says Arjen Schutte, technical sales engineer at itsme, Avebe's long-standing partner for industrial automation. "Many companies don't have a clear picture of their own installed base. Something was built at some point, and perhaps expanded later. For a car, you have periodic vehicle inspections and maintenance, but in industry, that's usually not the case. Only when something breaks does it need to be replaced. And then it often turns out that the exact components are no longer known."“

This is also the case at Avebe, Wierenga acknowledges. “When I started here, my focus was elsewhere. So, initially, I didn't concentrate on what was in stock in the warehouse. Later, it turned out that the inventory situation could and needed to be improved to meet the right requirements. To make the right choice, it's essential to map the installed base. This involves a large number (4,000+) of Siemens components, spread throughout the entire site, from process components to stand-alone units. So when itsme told me they could perform a FactoryScan via the network, that was music to my ears. This maps everything and leaves nothing out.”

“To make the right choice regarding the inventory situation, the installed base must be mapped out.”

A FactoryScan of the installed base of industrial automation can be as narrow or broad as the customer desires, explains Schutte. "That, of course, depends on the available time and resources. In this case, it only involved Siemens components, on which Avebe is fairly standardized, and only the PLCs and accessories. So, not frequency controllers, valves, and so on, which we can also include." itsme uses a Siemens tool that easily connects to a PLC and then scans the network to create an overview of all existing network components. This overview enriches itsme with data on the current status, availability, future availability, and replacement parts.

Ensuring cybersecurity

The scan has already been completed at Avebe, Wierenga reports. "We're currently consulting with itsme about ordering components to bring our inventory up to par. Meanwhile, we're also working on the next step. We want to develop a strategy for dealing with components that become obsolete. Our goal is for malfunctions to be incidental, not recurring. The scan helps us make the right choices regarding the process of replacing obsolete parts and determining stock levels for those parts."“

Schutte warns that availability can change at any moment. "Siemens recently announced a new line of PLCs. This means the existing line is currently only available as spare parts and will be completely unavailable in ten years." Another factor is the Cybersecurity Act, which will soon take effect. "Companies are responsible for ensuring they are not hacked. We don't yet include this in a FactoryScan, because anti-hack PLCs are only just coming onto the market." Cybersecurity is, in any case, a key concern when keeping the installed base up to date.

“We want to define a strategy for dealing with components that become obsolete”

Improving production reliability

Couldn't Avebe have performed the scan themselves? Wierenga: "I think so, but it would have taken me much more time and effort, and I would still have been unsure whether I'd covered everything. That's why we thought it was a good idea to hire itsme. It's only taken me half a day with Arjen." Schutte: "Through the network, I can quickly see what's present, but then compiling the report is very time-consuming. I have to research and check all sorts of things against the database of, in this case, Siemens. We've been offering the FactoryScan since 2022, and more than twenty companies have now commissioned us to perform it. That number continues to grow."“

Wierenga is satisfied with the scan. He now has an overview of the installed base's status, and uncertainty about it no longer keeps him awake at night. "The goal is to have a reliable installation, so that production is reliable and there are no unplanned downtimes. This allows planned work to proceed without delay."“