Tracking System
Product tracking is critical to the efficient operation of a factory, and one system that we installed was for a leading pharmaceutical client where they needed to track the products from raw materials in, through the dispensary, (for some of the products), through the process and to the packing line. For this we used a developed form of WinCC together with an S7 400 and multiple data collection and information dissemination outstation. All equipment was networked using Profibus and Ethernet, and to the inherent design the system was very resilient and provided a high level of availability. The tracking even included the tracking of empty as well as full/part full IBCs together with their state of cleanliness – also included was active interlocking to prevent the use of the bin if it was not suitably clean. All relevant product tracking data was made available for inclusion in the batch report.