Hardware
Unitronics
- Unitronics Building
Haarava 3, Airport City
7019900, Israel - +972-3-9778844
- [email protected]
Location, telemetry, remote access, the ability to identify the current machine owner/operator, and then to collect, analyze, and sort data according to owner/operator all led CAMS to embed UniCloud IIoT into all product lines of their mobile crushing and recycling plants.
Mobile machine applications must be able to determine current machine location, identify the current machine owner/operator, and then collect, analyze, and sort data according to owner/operator – all while enabling secure Remote Access.
CAMS s.r.l. is an Italian company, specializing in the design and manufacture of mobile crushing and recycling plants. CAMS mobile plants can crush, shred, separate, and screen aggregates, asphalt, construction, and demolition rubble as well as a range of other waste materials. With hundreds of installations in Italy and across the globe, CAMS recently faced new challenges – and met them successfully, using UniStream controllers integrated with UniCloud, Unitronics’ end-to-end IIoT cloud platform.
UniCloud was an excellent fit for their business model.
First of all, CAMS recycling plants are mobile, constantly being moved from worksite to worksite; they therefore need to identify the current location of any given plant. In addition, a single company or organization can rent or purchase CAMS plants, and then rent them out to its own customers. This means that CAMS needs to identify who is currently renting or operating each plant, as well as its current location. In order to allow authorized users to monitor and log plant data and safely access the controller for trouble-shooting purposes, CAMS also needs to be able to provide its customers with customized dashboards to access information.
UniCloud provides all of that functionality and more.
At the beginning of 2022, CAMS began embedding UniCloud into all of its mobile plants. This was easy to do because CAMS automates its plants with UniStream PLC + HMI All-in-One devices. No modification of the existing Control, HMI, or Motion application was required; a few simple clicks is all that is needed to enable UniStream controllers to connect directly with UniCloud.
Since UniCloud is a simple, no-code, do-it-yourself IIoT platform, CAMS can link customers to specific machines – called Assets in cloud lingo – without relying on programmers and IT professionals. The platform provides a global overview of the location of all plants and their ‘health’ status.
UniCloud enables CAMS and its customers to do the following:
With the UniCloud No-Code platform, CAMS easily created customized dashboards for different purposes.
The next image shows CAMS’ GeoLocation dashboard. The user can click an Asset either on the map or in the table to directly access a specific machine and view its detailed dashboards.
Cost reduction and efficiency are interrelated.
CAMS is able to reduce costs by using Unitronics’ end-to-end automation solution, which fully integrates Unitronics hardware, software, and its IIoT cloud platform, UniCloud.
A major benefit is UniCloud’s powerful Remote-Control capability. This allows CAMS technicians to remotely access the HMI program and service plants via a secure VNC connection, enabling them to avoid traveling to customer sites – eliminating the time and expenses of on-site service calls, especially to foreign locations.
Another source of cost reduction is the flexible, free programming software. UniLogic®, UniStream’s All-in-One automation software, enables users to develop the PLC, HMI, and Motion applications in the same simple environment, cutting down programming time.
In addition to drastically reducing the time needed to program control, communications, and HMI, the software enabled the team to use a single VFD to control two motors via programming. The team solved this issue by using a single Unitronics VFD to control two motors. This was possible because the motors do not work simultaneously. The PLC stores the parameters required by each motor, and the program transfers the parameters to the active motor when the motor starts.
In addition, UniCloud is a do-it-yourself IoT platform that covers all aspects from machine to cloud and back. CAMS did not need to hire any outside professional help to build their dashboards, or to maintain and add onto their system—any questions they had were quickly answered by the Unitronics support team, provided at no additional charge.
Raising efficiency, for example fuel usage, by effectively analyzing and using data is a CAMS objective.
Marco Venturi, CAMS Senior Technical Director, prefers Unitronics easy to use, high-performance, hardware, supported by powerful, free software—this is one of the reasons CAMS has used Unitronics control products for over a decade.
Mr. Venturi describes the benefits of using Unitronics: “Having reliable hardware is a must for our applications. Good technical support is essential, and Unitronics has always been ready to answer to our needs with both remote and on-site technical assistance. UniCloud gives our solutions added value, gaining the advantages of IIoT technology that benefit our business”
CAMS now has a comprehensive, global overview of all their plants, regardless of location, all on one dashboard. According to CAMS, a major benefit of connecting all their machines to UniCloud is being alerted—in real time–to any special conditions or events that require attention. This greatly shortens service response times and avoids machine downtime.
CAMS—thanks to UniCloud—can now implement a proactive approach to machine service, one based on real data instead of, or in addition, to planned periodic service regardless of the machine’s real-time status.
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