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Four Machines—Replaced by One: Trucco’s Game-Changing Solution for Basil Harvesting

Industry- Food & Beverage

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The Company

Italy-based Trucco Automazione Agricola Industriale is a company with a rich history and expertise in the agricultural sector, specializing in plant nursery automation. With a focus on providing custom-made machines and offering consultancy services and technical assistance, Trucco has earned a reputation as a leader in the field.

The Challenge

One of Trucco's clients faced a challenge in managing their basil production process. Their process required four separate machines for four independent applications: harvesting, storage, weighing, washing and sterilization.
Seeking enhanced efficiency and productivity, their goal was to create a single, reliable machine that could incorporate, control, and synchronize all four applications while minimizing downtime—and the machine itself was 16 meters long, which posed an additional challenge.

The Solution

Trucco's team of engineers met their client’s goals by integrating Unitronics’ UniStream PLC controllers and Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) into the new basil harvesting machine. Unitronics remote I/O were distributed throughout the 16-meter long machine.
By using Unitronics components, Trucco was able to meet the challenge of managing and regulating the speed and torque of their diverse motors, sensors and actuators remotely via the controllers HMI.
The completed machine fully automates the basil harvesting process. The machine harvests the basil from cultivation containers, and then stores and weighs the product in transport crates. Next, the machine empties the cultivation containers, clearing them of soil and waste. The final process comprises washing and sterilizing the containers with high temperature steam.
These processes are fully synchronized, allowing a high production rate while preventing the machine from jamming.

Benefits

Trucco reported the following advantages:
• Transparent, instant communication setup – all communication between PLC, HMI, VFDs, and IOs – was plug & play.
• A single software environment, Unitronics’ UniLogic, cut development time and enabled Trucco to:
o Develop both PLC control and HMI application in the same simple software
o Commission and parameterize the VFDs directly from UniLogic. The ability to fully integrate the calibration of the inverters into the software allowed Trucco to quickly calibrate and configure the sequences, which would otherwise have taken much longer.
o Remotely program and modify the PLC application from the office, and download it immediately into the PLC located on the production floor, enabling Trucco to slash the development time of the PLC application and check new functionalities in real time.
• Simplified wiring: the robust I/O expansion modules greatly simplified the remote IO wiring.
• Virtual HMI, where the same processor runs both the control an HMI program meant no HMI wiring—while the HMI is accessible on any device supporting VNC.
In addition, this application is future-proofed; when the client decides to move forward with plans to monitor and manage machines and their data via the cloud, the UniStream controllers work transparently with Unitronics’ Industry 4.0 cloud solution, UniCloud.

Summary

Trucco’s solution resulted in faster, cheaper and higher production volume with fewer human errors. In addition to improved client satisfaction because of quality of results and timely delivery, the automated processes cut down the number of workers required.
In the words of Trucco’s Mechanical Designer, Ivan Rosciano:
“I would recommend Unitronics to all automation companies who need to complete complex projects in a short time, and who do not have specialized programmers internally. We achieved great results with UniLogic's simplified programming environment, and with the help of Unitronics technical support --always available to answer any question.”