When Hartwall replaced the warehouse management system at its Lahti production facility, Makron was responsible for the interfaces for the conveyor systems and for the SCADA visualization covering the intralogistics as a whole.
Oy Hartwall Ab is one of Finland’s largest and best-known beverage producers. The Lahti facility, which houses the company’s brewery and soft drink factory, is the heart of Hartwall’s operations. Hartwall is part of the Danish Royal Unibrew group.
The upgrade project for Hartwall’s warehouse management system was launched when the old system had reached the end of the road. The supplier had announced the end of the system’s life cycle, and support and maintenance were no longer available. The upgrade aimed to ensure that the new system meets today’s needs and allows for future development.
The major system change required careful planning and scheduling. In addition to the new SAP EWM system supplier, several suppliers of smaller entities took part in the project.
Hartwall chose Makron to develop interfaces and the control room visualization. “Based on previous projects, we knew Makron was a reliable supplier,” says Technical Development Manager Marko Rajaniemi.
To ensure that the existing conveyor system and the new higher-level control system could work together seamlessly, Makron designed and implemented seven PLC interfaces. Makron’s automation engineers tested the operation of the conveyor systems on weekends when production was not running.
Makron also created a control room visualization that aggregates the status information of the intralogistics equipment between the production lines, warehouse, and dispatch department. The system is extensive, comprising more than 400 conveyor positions, around 160 monorail trolleys with more than 90 nodes, a high-bay warehouse, and 7 conveyor systems. The control room was implemented with Siemens WinCC Scada solution. The visualization gives logistics staff a real-time view of the intralogistics situation on the different floors and allows them to view the status of individual positions.
Project Manager Torsten Blossey emphasizes Makron’s role in the success of the system change. “The technical team was young, dynamic, and clever,” says Blossey. The collaboration was smooth from the very beginning.
The main challenge for the project was that Hartwall’s production was running throughout and there could be no interruptions in beverage deliveries. Therefore, all changes had to be implemented and tested on weekends. The project schedule was delayed due to the pandemic, among other things. Hartwall values in particular Makron’s ability to offer new perspectives and development ideas. “Makron was able to offer its expertise and react quickly to changing situations,” notes Marko Rajaniemi.
As a result, Hartwall now has a modern, flexible, and scalable warehouse management system, the development of which is ongoing. “When we need support, Makron will provide it to us efficiently in the future as well,” Rajaniemi says.
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Marko Rajaniemi
Technical Development Manager
Oy Hartwall Ab
