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Case Studies

Successful Bit by Bit (Germany)

PNO,


Project
Bitburger Brewery Th. Simon GmbH chose PROFIBUS for the first time in 1991 to modernize its production facilities, and the company has since continued to extend the use of PROFIBUS in several expansion and conversion projects. The economic benefit that results from higher plant efficiency and product quality, as well as reduced maintenance and service effort has become increasingly evident the longer the digital fieldbus network is in operation. Bit by bit, PROFIBUS has been ensuring cost-effective and reliable production.

Solution
In breweries, slow and continuous process steps in areas such as the brewing house, fermentation and storage cellars, filtration, and power are closely linked with very rapid and discrete production processes in the filling area. Industries with such a mixture of production processes are referred to as hybrid industries. A communication solution using PROFIBUS simplifies the integration of all of the production steps in a standardized network – especially in such applications. PROFIBUS covers all production steps existing in a brewery with its single uniform PROFIBUS DP communication protocol combined with the PROFIBUS PA version for linking devices in the process environment. Therefore, from incoming goods to production, quality control, filling and dispatch, PROFIBUS can be used for all automation tasks in all areas – with no need for using a second communication system, which eliminates heterogeneous systems and the need for additional interfaces.

Conclusion
The long-time conception and desire for innovation that Bitburger demonstrated in its early choice of PROFIBUS has more than paid off. The brewery benefited enormously from the openness and versatility of PROFIBUS: all tasks, right up to synchronization of the drives in the filling plants, can be networked using by a single fieldbus system.



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