Platform for the food and beverage industry
In an Italian packaging plant, four bottle-filling machines were equipped with flow meters using the Modbus® serial protocol. The flow meters had to be connected to a main CPU from Siemens® or Rockwell Automation®. For this particular scenario, the OEM had a request from the end user: Can they standardize the solution to connect Modbus serially to EtherNet/IP™ or PROFINET?
The OEM thought that using a gateway from another manufacturer might be the best solution to maintain flexibility. The flowmeter manufacturer suggested using modules from the PLX30 gateway family from ProSoft Technology to use, which could support the protocols.
The OEM was pleased that ProSoft supported an initial test of the solutions. The engineer found that the learning phase was easier because the gateways belonged to the same family and they could use the same configuration tool. The end user also preferred the communication speed of the gateways - and now they have a versatile gateway family that can connect any component.
