Cloud computing
Ricola connects production facility to the IoT
Tradition meets modernity at sweet manufacturer Ricola: instead of an elaborate network infrastructure, the Swiss company has recently started using a cloud solution to ensure the production quality of its eponymous herbal sugar.
Who invented it? - Who hasn't heard the Ricola advertising slogan, which has been broadcast on television and radio since 1993 and has made the Swiss company widely known. Founded in 1930 as Confiserie Richterich & Compagnie in Laufen in north-western Switzerland, the sweet manufacturer is now in its third generation of family ownership. As a pioneer in natural herb cultivation, the company exports 90% of its herbal specialties to more than 50 countries. The markets with the highest turnover are the USA, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. The 400 international employees generate an annual turnover of around 300 million Swiss francs.
Developing new sweets and opening up new markets often involves additional certification of the products. Sales in the USA, for example, require compliance with the stringent FDA (Food & Drug Administration) requirements. Ricola uses the possibilities of cloud computing based on the Proficloud solution from Phoenix Contact for the associated seamless documentation of warehouse and production processes.
The industrial Ethernet standard Profinet, on which Proficloud technology is based, enables the implementation of a wide range of automation concepts - from mechanical engineering and production technology to process and building automation and drive technology. The real-time-capable transmission protocol uses the TCP/IP channel and IT standards and integrates both fieldbus and cloud-based (IoT) systems.
But what does the IoT have to do with the production of herbal specialties? Ricola herbs are grown by around 100 herb farmers in five regions in the Swiss mountains. Every year, 1400 tons of herbs are processed, which need to be stored and processed optimally. This is why both the administration and the storage and production facilities are located in Laufen - albeit in different parts of the town.
The decentralized arrangement of the individual buildings means that relevant information must be exchanged between them as cost-effectively as possible. The solution also needed to be integrated into the existing automation technology. Daniel Bhend, Head of Technology/Engineering at Ricola, therefore worked with his team and employees from Phoenix Contact Switzerland to develop a solution that provides for a combination of standardized automation technology communication protocols and the Internet for data exchange over long distances.
Automatic connection setup
Specifically, in the application at Ricola, information about the status of the warehouses located around 15 km away from the production facility must be transmitted to the central production control system (PCS). As a higher-level control system forwards its data to the DCS, it makes sense to also send the measured values from the warehouses to this PLC. Ideally, this should be done via a protocol supported by the control system. The PLC in question also performs the function of a Profinet controller, which is why the use of Proficloud was the obvious choice here. This is because a Proficloud application consists of at least one Proficloud coupler, one Proficloud device and one Profinet controller as standard. In other words, for the Profinet controller, the coupler and all Proficloud devices look like normal Profinet devices.
This enables the PLC programmer to use the Proficloud services like standard Profinet devices. The Proficloud coupler connects the local Profinet network to the Proficloud via two Ethernet interfaces. While one interface is used to connect to the local Profinet system in the production facility, the second Ethernet interface is used to connect to the Internet. The coupler then automatically initiates a connection with the Proficloud and is ready for use after a short time. The same applies to the Proficloud devices, which are just as easily connected to the internet and automatically connect to the cloud.
... the data from several temperature sensors distributed throughout the storage rooms is recorded. The Proficloud coupler connects the local Profinet network to the cloud via two Ethernet interfaces.
© Phoenix ContactAt Ricola, the decentrally installed Proficloud controllers 'AXC Cloud-Pro' record the data from several temperature sensors distributed throughout the storage rooms via stackable I/O modules from the Axioline F product family and transmit them to the Proficloud coupler via the Internet. "This saves us having to set up a complex network infrastructure," reports Daniel Bhend. The system integrator commissioned by Ricola only had to register the devices with the UUID (Universal Unique Identifier) in the Proficloud and assign them to the central coupler. UUIDs are used to uniquely identify information in distributed systems and thus ensure secure communication via the cloud. After registration, the Profinet system starts TLS-secured data transmission via the Proficloud.
Weather information via the Internet
In addition to recording and forwarding measured values from the storage rooms, Ricola communicates the current weather information to the DCS in order to store it in the FDA's test documents. Ricola could have installed a weather station for this purpose, which would have had to be set up and connected to the PLC. It is easier with the Proficloud's 'Weather' cloud service, which can be used to retrieve relevant information from the Internet via a weather service. The controller can then use this directly as Profinet data. The service is treated as a virtual device in the Proficloud system. The user uses the input process data to specify the location for which weather information is to be obtained - in this case by specifying the coordinates of the warehouse.
How does the data from the Proficloud devices reach the PLC and how is the data exchange protected? As soon as there is a connection to the internet and therefore to the cloud, the device sends its process data to the cloud. The restriction to an outbound connection ensures that no internet participant can establish unwanted communication with the devices, for example to manipulate the temperature data. If the connection to the Proficloud is established via the Internet, an instance is created in the coupler for each connected device. The station in the warehouse and the weather device therefore receive their own IP and MAC address, which is mapped in the local Profinet network. Each cloud participant can then be programmed like a local Profinet device.
Protection against unauthorized access
As the data transmission of the Proficloud couplers and devices is protected by TLS1.2 encryption and the connection can only be initiated by the participants, two key aspects of data security are taken into account. Even the web application for configuring the Proficloud is forwarded to the user via HTTPS and is therefore protected against unauthorized access, which has already been certified by independent bodies.
In summary, it can be said that the combination of proven automation standards and innovative cloud technology has already become a reality at Ricola. In addition to the Profinet communication implemented there via the cloud, time series data base solutions, for example, have been implemented. Once the devices have been added to the Proficloud, the data they send immediately appears in the TSD (Device Manager Solution). A further mouse click then leads to the TSD Analytics application. The open-source platform also allows users to create and freely configure their own dashboards online, giving them an individualized display of process data via the Proficloud. Last but not least, the SDK can be used to implement your own solutions, which are then 'fed' with data from the Proficloud. Users are already developing their own connectors to AWS or MS Azure, for example.
Author: Arno Martin Fast is Product Manager at Phoenix Contact Electronics, Bad Pyrmont.
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