This past November, Champion completed the Rice Storage Expansion project for Louisiana Rice Mill located in Crowley, LA. Louisiana Rice Mill (LRM) acquires rough rice, refines it, and processes it into different grades of white rice. The rice is then available for export or domestic shipment in bulk, breakbulk, or containers.

Basis for Project

LRM sought automation services for a new control system to fill and empty its new rice silos. Previously, LRM used a manually controlled system. The main issue facing this system was the room left for human error in the process. For example, personnel manually tracked what grain of rice was in which silo as it passed through the bins. Additionally, operators who processed the rice climbed into the silos to direct the rice into the bins. However, if the operator directed a lower grade of rice into a bin containing a higher grade of rice, the contents of that bin had to be rated as a lower grade, ultimately increasing LRM’s costs. Lastly, there were numerous system clogs in the past that cost time and money to unclog.

Inspired by the company’s recently acquiring new rice bins and setting a goal to eliminate human error in the process, LRM requested to automate their rice silo filling and emptying operations. With an automated system, conveyors, elevators, and diverters can direct the rice without human involvement.

The Champion Solution

Louisiana Rice Mill mapped the process they wanted to implement with an automation solution and provided these documents to Champion. Using LRM’s process narratives, Champion automated the rough rice storage and mill supply. The entire process utilizes five elevators, 24 conveyors, 28 gates, and 4 three-way diverters to direct rice from a source (1 of 4 silos or pits, each tied to a different elevator) to 14 rough rice bins. However, this process posed a challenge due to the need to develop four simultaneous paths from various sources to various destinations, allowing for choice availability and elimination for separate runs of rice. The system allows the operator to choose a source (elevator), and a rice type.  After those selections, the path options are dynamically updated to show the available conveyors and bins for each run.  This gives the operator the most flexibility on each run while ensuring that final product grades are not diminished.  Multiple bins can also be selected if available for the product and the system will automatically switch to the next bin when the previous is full.

Technology. Champion used Allen-Bradley products exclusively for this project. Louisiana Rice Mill wanted to implement a product that was reliable and readily available, but they did not have a preference otherwise due to inexperience with these systems. In order to automate LRM’s rice silo filling and emptying operation control system, Champion utilized an Allen-Bradley CompactLogix PLC for system control, a PanelView Plus 7 HMI with FactoryTalk Studio ME for the operator interface, point I/O platform for distributed control, and Device Level Ring (DLR) Network technology for high availability networking. Additionally, Champion provided complete design and fabrication for this project.

Graphics. Since this project was LRM’s first attempt at automation, the company did not have previously-existing graphics, so the graphics’ standards used were not typical. For this reason, Champion developed standards in line with the complexity of the project. The graphics were designed to allow operators to choose the rice’s primary source and its final destination.

Storage Overview

Equipment Arbitration Screen

Project Results

This was a pilot project for LRM, and overall it is a fairly sophisticated system for the facility. The end result has been very successful, eliminating the majority of issues associated with manual controls, ultimately leaving the customer pleased and allowing Champion the opportunity to automate the entire facility. Potential future projects for Louisiana Rice Mill to remove some remaining manual tasks include level volumetric measurements for the bins, as well as shipping area automation. Between the vision Louisiana Rice Mill had for its facility and Champion’s knowledge, experience, and expertise, the cohesive efforts of both created a successful end product for the customer.

November 2016 – Two Champion representatives presented at the Deltek Insight conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Quyen Nguyen and Sam Farr, both Systems Programmers for Champion, presented sessions to demonstrate how Champion customized Vision to work with the company’s unique business needs.

Quyen’s presentation, “Project Management and Controlling Budgets with Vision Automation,” showcased Champion’s custom Estimated Time to Complete (ETC) module and automated reporting that eliminated manual ETC requests and entries.

Quyen said, “It was an honor to be invited to present at the Deltek conference last year.  Relative to most Vision users, we have been doing some pretty advanced customizations, and I was amazed by the interest we received.  Attending the conference also gave me the opportunity to meet face-to-face with a few experts that work at Deltek, they have been very helpful resources.”

Sam’s presentation, “Automate Vision Workflows to Increase Communication, Decrease Overhead, Improve Compliance, and Win More Projects,” demonstrated how Champion automated workflows for various departments such as Human Resources, Safety, and Estimation, to reduce manual entry and save time. The presentation also covered ways to leverage Vision’s user-defined fields and tabs, to customize .NET frontend interfaces for Vision, and to use effective notification strategies.

Sam said, “Presenting topics about Vision at Deltek Insight provided a unique chance to get feedback from the community on Vision customization strategies we are using, see ways others use similar functionality adapted for their businesses, and showcase Champion’s advanced implementations and product knowledge.”

This was Champion’s first opportunity to present at the Deltek Insight conference. Champion has also presented at Honeywell Users Group, Rockwell Automation Process Solutions Users Group, and Siemens Automation Summit.

PREP TIME:  20 Minutes             COOKING TIME:  30 Minutes             SERVINGS:  6

Ingredients

Craving chicken and a hearty pasta dish tonight? Start this flavorful recipe by lightly browning your chicken with a smidge of olive oil and then add in fresh vegetable and fettuccine. Mix it up with a variety of pastas for something new every meal.

* 3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets, sliced in half, horizontally to create six fillets
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
* 2 tablespoons butter, divided
* 6 ounces fresh French green beans, sliced in half
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
* 1 small red bell pepper, sliced into ½” slices
* 6 cremini mushrooms, sliced
* 2 green onions, sliced
* 1 (16-ounce) package fettuccine pasta, cooked and drained
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 2/3 cup chicken broth

Preparation

1. Season chicken with garlic, Italian seasoning and seasoned salt.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.
3. Add chicken to skillet in two batches and cook 5 to 10 minutes each batch or until internal temperature reaches 165°F. Turn chicken halfway through. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
4. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil to skillet. Add green beans and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add red bell pepper, mushrooms, green onions and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook 4 minutes.
6. Remove vegetables from skillet and add to hot fettuccine.
7. Stir flour and remaining tablespoon butter into skillet drippings. Cook 1 minute.
8. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil and cook 30 seconds.
9. Pour hot chicken broth over fettuccine with vegetables. Add any chicken juices accumulated from cooked chicken. Toss well.
10. Serve pasta with vegetables on a platter and top with cooked chicken breast fillets.

Nutritional Information

Calories:  600          Fat:  17g               Carbs:  65g             Sugars:  6g             Protein:  49g           Sodium:  540g