Westfalia Technologies upgrades ASRS at Bridgford Foods
Nov 08, 2011
Bridgford Foods Corporation recently contracted Westfalia Technologies, Inc. to upgrade their existing Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) in Dallas, TX. The Storage/Retrieval Machine, now nearly seventeen years old, was installed by Westfalia in 1994. Since that time major technical advances have been made to AS/RS and are included in this renovation project. Specifically involved are replacements of the motors with SEW drive technology, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Allen Bradley Human Machine Interface (HMI), wireless communications between conveyors and warehouse management software, and the complete replacement of the electrical control cabinet. The Westfalia SRM upgrade was successfully completed within the scheduled 14 days in fact Bridgford was able to partially ship items after only 8 days.
Bridgford Foods Corporation produces frozen bread dough products, shelf-stable dry and semi-dry sausage products for both the food service and retail food industries. Among its products is an assortment of frozen Micro-Ready sandwiches, all available nationally, and sliced luncheon meats for retail markets in the Southwestern US. Founded in 1934 by Hugh Bridgford as a meat market in San Diego, it has grown to over 550 employees. The facility upgraded in Dallas processes frozen bread dough products.
The AS/RS upgrade at Bridgford Foods became necessary due to the lack of parts available for the out of date components originally installed. In addition, many of the original system components were German manufactured, and were proving difficult to support and procure in the USA. Advances in motor and drive technologies had surpassed the ability to support the older components. The original encoder system was replaced with modern laser positioning which is now standard and is far more reliable and accurate. Replacing the complete control cabinet instead of just individual components reduced downtime of the system, allowed for a smooth start up due to extensive pre-installation testing of hardware and programs. The modern HMI from Allen Bradley offers more intuitive operator screens, help screens and additional service functions that were not previously available. With the upgrade, all components are provided by vendors in the USA and are supported 24/7 via online and phone service from Westfalia.
The Warehouse Management System (WMS) has been converted from hard wire to wireless Ethernet. The WMS upgrade was performed after the mechanical/electrical upgrade in order to reduce risk, downtime and ensure adequate testing.
Bridgfood Foods is already seeing the benefits of the upgrade. "Laser positioning and replacing other obsolete components with state-of-the-art technology allows Bridgford to use the crane more quickly, and increase throughput," explains Bill Brown, Westfalia's Service Manager.
As Joe DeAlcuaz, Plant Manager explains, "the crane [Storage/Retrieval Machine] has been the most trouble free system we own. The complete change of the control cabinet will enable the company to continue to enjoy those benefits."
