FRoSTA AG

FRoSTA AG is the German market leader in frozen fish and convenience foods and operates a fully automated raw materials warehouse in Bremerhaven, staffed by 600 employees. To run its warehouse, FRoSTA has a conveyor and four ASRS (Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems), controlled by a series of Siemens SIMATIC automated process controllers designed for warehouse applications.

Working with SCHAD, FRoSTA is using EXTEND7000 as part of a highly secure mobile SCADA system. EXTEND7000 has been integrated directly with FRoSTA’s existing Siemens process controllers. The system uses existing Wi-Fi or GPRS infrastructure and BlackBerry smartphones to give engineers ‘anywhere-anytime’ alerts, providing a low cost, functionally rich mobile control and monitoring solution.

Significant reduction in downtime
Prior to adopting EXTEND7000 from SCHAD, information relating to the continuous smooth running of the warehouse would be displayed visually, in a dedicated control room staffed by warehouse engineers. Should an engineer be required for a technical operation elsewhere, they were inevitably cut off from process control information the moment they left the control room. This inefficient communication resulted in significant periods of downtime, which had a negative impact on cost and productivity levels.

Now, engineers equipped with standard BlackBerry smartphones receive real time notifications of system performance issues. Alerts are sent immediately, directly to the appropriate member of the technical team in real-time, according to a pre-defined escalation scheme.

No more waiting for a problem to occur
EXTEND7000 routes specific data relating to system failure as it occurs, which means engineers can be working elsewhere within the facility and yet at the same time, be constantly observing and monitoring warehouse processes. Should a problem occur, it is immediately detected and initially investigated remotely, without the need for an engineer to be tied to the control room.

Better management information
With each alert, EXTEND7000 creates a clear workflow informing management of issues and communicating ongoing status updates whereas previously, service employees would report to the control room to discuss problems with the system. The entire technical team can also communicate remotely when away from the control room, in real-time with each other, to remain updated about how issues are being resolved and by whom.

Easy implementation
Since elsewhere in the business, FRoSTA had already implemented a BlackBerry server for email services, it was a natural extension to use BlackBerry mobile devices to monitor and control its automated warehouse systems. EXTEND7000 uses a system server, device manager and system manager to deliver real-time information. The system server uses FRoSTA’s wireless infrastructure to deliver messages from the Siemens automation systems onto the BlackBerrys whilst simultaneously exchanging information with the system manager.

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