Voortman Steel Machinery

We have developed a custom SCADA solution in combination with a Human Machine Interface.

Date

2021-2022

Client

Voortman Steel Machinery

More information

https://www.voortman.net/nl/

The Voortman plate sorter is an advanced machine designed for sorting and handling steel plates in a highly efficient manner. It automates the process of sorting and organizing steel plates for assembly, which was previously a manual, time-consuming, and error-prone process.

The problem

The challenge that Voortman faced was that the output planning for large steel constructions, that consist of many small parts for assembly, was not going as precise as they would like.

Our solution

We developed a customized SCADA solution for the plate sorter for Voortman. With its smart layer, the Voortman plate sorter coordinates the entire process, determining when a task needs to be performed and verifying all conditions before executing it. This SCADA solution is paired with a Human Machine Interface (HMI) solution to provide a seamless and easy-to-use experience for operators.

About

Voortman Steel Machinery

Voortman Steel Machinery is a leading manufacturer of advanced machinery and equipment for the steel industry. With over 50 years of experience, Voortman has built a reputation for providing high-quality, innovative solutions that help businesses to streamline their operations and increase efficiency.

Corporate social responsibility

"We work safely or we don't work at all" and "If we do something, we do it well": two important mottos that Voortman applies within their company every day. They handle their employees and customers with care; for Voortman, they are of invaluable value.

Approach

Even architecture

Event-driven architecture (EDA) is a software architecture paradigm that focuses on building applications around events, which are notifications or messages triggered by specific occurrences or activities. 

EDA is based on the idea that every system and process generates events that need to be processed and acted upon in real-time. EDA allows applications to be highly decoupled, meaning they can operate independently, which provides greater flexibility and scalability

In an EDA system, events are captured, processed, and responded to by individual components or microservices. This creates a highly modular architecture that can be easily extended and modified. By decoupling the application components, EDA enables developers to build more flexible and scalable systems that can respond quickly to changing requirements. EDA is particularly useful for complex applications where multiple components need to interact with each other in real-time.

Microservice architecture

Microservice architecture is a software design pattern that emphasizes building applications as a collection of small, independent services, each with a specific function. The idea behind microservices is to break down complex applications into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently

One of the most significant benefits of microservice architecture is its inherent scalability. By breaking down an application into smaller, independent services, it becomes easier to scale each service individually, rather than scaling the entire application as a whole. This allows for a more efficient use of resources, reducing costs while simultaneously improving performance.

Result

Plate sorter

The Voortman plate sorter is a highly innovative machine that helps businesses in the steel industry to streamline their operations, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. It is an excellent example of how advanced technology can be used to solve real-world problems and optimize industrial processes.

Knowledge sharing

In the case of Voortman, we were able to work closely with their team to identify areas where we could provide value and help them to improve their software development processes.