Home
> News
> Case stories
> Eilersen load cells ensure correct mixing of soft drinks

Eilersen load cells ensure correct mixing of soft drinks

At soft drink producer CO-RO A/S, production is almost 100% based on accurate and stable weighing of ingredients. Weighing of contents in mixing tanks and storage tanks is done using capacitive, digital load cells from Eilersen Electric A/S.

By John Steenfeldt-Jensen

CO-RO A/S in Frederikssund is a specialist producer of fruit drinks that quench the thirst of thousands of people around the world every day. This includes drinks such as Sunquick, Suntop, Sun Lolly and Suncola, and since 1967 the main production has taken place at CO-RO’s large factory in Frederikssund.

Today, CO-RO A/S is present in over 80 countries – mainly in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa – and together with local partners delivers more than 3.5 billion high-quality fruit-based beverages and ice lollies for home-freezing every year. Over the last 10 years, CO-RO A/S has more than doubled its turnover and is now owned by the CO-RO Foundation.

Capacitive, digital load cell from Eilersen Electric A/S mounted under support for tank.

Digitization of production plants increases productivity by 200%

“In collaboration with skilled external suppliers, stakeholders and colleagues, we have been performing continuous upgrades on our production facilities on a daily basis for more than 25 years, with commitment to our goal of achieving full digitization of the factory.

For example, the 24 sugar mixing tanks in the tank cellar are 40 years old and look the same as they always have, but through the ongoing upgrade process, the facility has gone from being made up of 24 individually controlled, hand-operated mixing tanks to being fully automated and full-scale recipe controlled.

All mixing tanks in CO-RO’s production facilities are equipped with load cells.

The plant has recently been updated to the latest PLC computer technology and interface to MES and D365. D365 delivers master data (production jobs) to the MES production execution system, which translates this data into a finished recipe that is incrementally transferred to the production facility. After execution of each step, reporting to MES and D365 takes place for full documentation and traceability regarding ingredients and quantities added and stirrings performed, etc.

The fully automated recipe processing has led to a 200% productivity and capacity increase and has been one of the cornerstones in our keeping up with the increasing demand and factory growth over the years.

Operator Vincent Di Leo in the control center, from where the mixing of the different products is controlled.

A similar upgrade process has been, and continues to be, implemented in new departments, and one element of this automation process is that all analog load cell amplifiers are being replaced with digital Eilersen weighing modules with Ethernet/IP communication as part of preparing the automation systems so that the processes in other departments can also be full-scale recipe controlled to a greater and greater extent,” says Senior Project Manager Anders Riis, CO-RO A/S.

Eilersen load controllers with EtherNet IP interface in control cabinet.

95% of all measurements are made by weighing

The control of the mixing processes is based on the measurement of the weight of ingredients in accordance with the recipes of current products. Since 95% of all our measurements are done by weighing, we have relatively few flow meters. Weight is measured by load cells under the tank supports.

Since the company’s inception, we have used capacitive load cells from Eilersen Electric A/S, in part because they are backward compatible. And with digitization, in addition to high accuracy we achieve a high operational up-time. Analog systems are more sensitive to moisture, which can cause problems in an environment that is the epitome of intensive cleaning routines, says Maintenance Electrician Ken Frederiksen, CO-RO A/S

“We have chosen the load cells from Eilersen because over the years we have worked together, Eilersen Electric A/S has delivered high-quality load cells and, at the same time, provided professional service and support.

In order to achieve the best possible consistency and high quality when it comes to our components, all our subcontractors are required to use weighing systems from Eilersen Electric A/S,” Anders Riis concludes.