Incorporated into a radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking solution, mobile asset management company Trenstar is using new Simatic Microbox PCs from Siemens to track kegs on behalf of some of the UK's leading brewers, including Coors, Carlsberg and Scottish Courage.
The list of breweries that have outsourced asset management in recent years is growing steadily. Trenstar now owns a population of around 1.2m kegs. With fill rates averaging 5.5 per week, it means that over 10m Trenstar kegs get filled every year.
According to Pip Walker, technical analyst at Trenstar, the solution involves the use of Simatic Microbox 420 PCs to interface between the RFID reader module and the remote database. "At present it has been implemented at Coors and Carlsberg, and Scottish Courage will follow before the end of 2005," he says.
The RFID solution at Coors for tracking kegs is integrated with enterprise resource planning, warehousing and transportation.
l In a separate project, Siemens has delivered an innovative level measurement solution to William Grant & Sons Distillers' scotch whisky distillery at Dufftown.
In the wash stills, prior to vaporisation, foam is produced that can result in boiling and rising levels of froth mixing with the 'low wines' from the first stages of distillation. To control the foam, the burners must be turned off, then restarted as the foam dissipates. Because foam is neither liquid nor air, it has traditionally been impossible to detect with older level measurement equipment.
To solve this problem the distillery installed a Siemens Pointek CLS 200 instrument on the neck of each wash still. When foam reaches the tip of the instrument probe, the CLS 200 detects it and automatically turns off the burners. It restarts the burners when the froth level drops.
Contact: Siemens Automation & Drives,
Tel: 0161 446 5971