Page 26 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 4/2018

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BDF INDUSTRIES Achieving these objectives means focusing on the
exchange of information between various pieces of
INDUSTRY 4.0 WITH equipment within the plant; equipment which is directly
involved in the manufacturing process, as well as
PANORAMICONTROL™ auxiliary equipment such as compressors, filters and
emissions monitoring equipment.
BDF Industries is an international company, based Thanks to its unique position as the only company able
in Vicenza (Italy), leader in glass engineering and to supply clients with a complete glass manufacturing
industrial automation market and recognized as the process, complete with design skills and in-house
first four largest suppliers for engineering solutions and production, BDF Industries noticed how a deep
equipment worldwide. collaborative effort between equipment and plant
Established in 1906, in the 50s BDF Industries was the suppliers enables optimisation in areas that otherwise
first producer of IS machines in Europe and over the would be impossible.
years it has developed its business in the Glass Division One clear example of this can be seen by synchronising
which currently is made up of four different business channels with forming machines, resulting in many
units: Melting, Forming, Automation and Energy. benefits during production changes and allowing
During Glassman Latin America, BDF Industries an increase or decrease in output. Other points of
participated in the Future Glass Forum Conference, synergy are linked to the emissions treatment system, if
with a speech of Mr. Gregori, Senior Sales Account connected to the furnace’s combustion system or to the
& RPM America, about Industry 4.0. During the ergonomics of the SCADA interface.
lecture in Spanish, BDF Industries presented its That is why BDF Industries has developed
open system for a more efficient glass factory: the PanoramiControl™, a management product specifically
PanoramiControl™. designed for glass manufacturing plants using an
This system is a sort of business intelligence that Industry 4.0 approach. PanoramiControl™ provides
allows the complete vision of the plant thanks to a view of the entire glass manufacturing process from
data collection, such as alarms, events, historical a single physical control point, allowing integrated,
and real data. Technologies linked to Industry 4.0 efficient control over each and every piece of
allow significant benefits to be achieved in various equipment.
areas of glass manufacturing: examples of their use
can be found in the management of raw materials,
in the optimisation processes of energy sources, in
managing maintenance and in the opportunities to
improve workstation ergonomics thereby increasing the
productivity of personnel.

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