Machine Control
2000 Ton Die Caster PLC Upgrade
A 2000 ton aluminum die caster received a new PLC after its old one began to fail. At the same time, the cabinet was cleaned, better lit, and reorganized to make space for many more years of production.
The seed for this project was that the PLC was no longer able to be backed up. Working with the process engineer for the company, this 2000 ton aluminum die caster entered the 21st century with a modern ControlLogix PLC. While we were in the cabinet we were able to decommission and remove legacy controls, integrate a cabinet light tied to a door switch, and clean up organization and wiring inside of the panel. Additionally, a new HMI was integrated into the cabinet for easier operator and supervisor control. This project required the machine to be out of production for 2 weeks and during the down time necessary mechanical repairs were undertaken by facility staff.
The result of this project is that the die caster is now primed for planned future automation integration, there is less down time on the machine due electrical issues, troubleshooting is now significantly easier, and the original problem of not being able to back up the PLC has been solved.
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