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CASE STUDY

AriZona Beverage

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MES & Batching System for High-Volume Production

AriZona Beverages required an ISA-88 batch control solution for its flagship 621,000 square-foot production center. Vertech delivered an ISA-88 batch control solution as well as MES/SCADA functionality for OEE, downtime tracking, scheduling, and finished goods reporting.
62 Ignition Tags
1800 Alarms
112 Screens
2000 Points of Control

Project Overview

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The Protagonist

AriZona Beverage logo overlaid on bottle production photo

AriZona Beverages is the company behind AriZona Iced Tea, America’s best-selling and most broadly distributed iced tea brand.

When AriZona Beverages opened a state-of-the-art 621,000 square-foot manufacturing facility, it required a world-class automation system that could maximize production and prioritize sustainability. The new facility features six production lines and will produce more than 60 million cases of the company’s wide variety of iced-tea products annually. 

The Story

In the Beginning...

The Vertech team was tasked with delivering a world-class automation system for high-volume can and bottle production. AriZona Beverages needed an MES and batching system to maximize production of a wide variety of high-demand products and convert manufacturing data into actionable analytics.

The Plot Thickens

The scope of services Vertech delivered as part of this project spanned multiple areas, including the following:

  • SAP integration with MES for production scheduling
  • Finished goods production reporting
  • Batch control
  • Associated PLC programming
  • OEE and downtime tracking
  • Overall system commissioning

One of the biggest challenges Vertech faced was creating the custom ISA-88-based batch solution using Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform rather than dedicated batch software. But thanks to the flexibility of Ignition, Vertech provided a solution that scales with production needs by automatically controlling bulk additions of raw materials while operators perform manual additions.

The Happy Ending

This project resulted in a best-in-class batch control system that interacts with every level of automation, from device control to the ERP. With new and improved levels of control, AriZona Beverages now has complete visibility into its business and production process, allowing the new facility to produce high-quality, consistent products more quickly and easily than what was previously possible. With all this data now at their fingertips, operators can look at any line over any length of time and get site overviews, equipment overviews, and production history and can use this information to identify areas of continuous improvement.

This entire project was performed using Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform and Sepasoft’s OEE Downtime module. The customer specifically requested that Ignition be used for MES, batch control, and process control, and that these systems interface with its SAP ERP system for production tracking and business traceability. Ignition made it possible to design an easily adaptable system according to industry standards for ultimate flexibility while eliminating unnecessary software licensing costs. The Sepasoft OEE module was significant because it simplified the integration of business data within the ISA-88 batch system.  

At the heart of AriZona Beverages’ brand is offering its unique 23-ounce cans to consumers for 99 cents. Maintaining the sustainability of this was just as important as production volume. Capturing production metrics and converting the information into digestible data makes it possible for the company to continue offering its customers popular products, using quality ingredients, presented in its uniquely designed packaging, at an affordable price.

This project was awarded Inductive Automation’s ICC 2020 Firebrand Award

AriZona Beverage SCADA UI Batch Tanks
AriZona Beverage UI Batching Screen
AriZona Beverage MES UI Line OEE
AriZona Beverage MES UI Production Scheduling
AriZona Beverage MES UI OEE Downtime by Material
AriZona Beverage MES UI Batch System Reporting
AriZona Beverage UI TV Dashboard

Technology Used

ISA-88 Batch Control
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  • Inductive Automation Ignition 8.0
  • Ignition Perspective Mobile Screens
  • Sepasoft OEE Module
Controls & Automation
AriZona Beverage UI Batch Tanks circle
  • Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PLCs
  • Rockwell Automation CompactLogix PLCs
  • Rockwell Automation 1734 POINT™ I/O Modules
  • IFM Efector AS-Interface Gateways
  • Alfa Laval V50 and V70 ThinkTop Valve-Top Control Units
  • Micromotion Coriolis Flow Meters
  • Gateway Redundancy
  • PowerFlex 525 Drives
AriZona Beverage UI Line OEE circle
AriZona Beverage UI Batch Tanks circle
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“Since the start of the project, we’ve built this as a centerpiece for best-in-class. Vertech provided us with best-in-class software that integrated well within the whole manufacturing facility.”

Shami Usmani VP of Engineering & Manufacturing, AriZona Beverage Co.

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