Pilkington is part of the NSG Group and produces float glass on two lines – primarily for use as architectural glass. After ten years of continuous operation, the “Float Two” line needed to be modernized with a retrofit in order to ensure production remains economical. Pilkington decided to use its long-term partner, Siemens, in order to be able to achieve this mammoth project within the 100-day time frame. State-of-the-art automation solutions from Siemens were used to upgrade the line. This has allowed Pilkington to reduce energy consumption and exhaust emissions through intelligent controls. The open system architecture also provides a high degree of flexibility.
The line had to be completely shut down for this cold repair. As part of the upgrade, the process control system has also been replaced with a state-of-the-art solution from Siemens which had already been tested and approved in a factory acceptance test in Karlsruhe. By upgrading to a PCS 7 process control system, the company now have a future-oriented investment in place on Float Line 2 which can be operated with complete confidence Pilkington Plant Director, Reinhold Gietl explains. The central engineering department at Pilkington worked closely with the Siemens specialists and colleagues from the plant at Weiherhammer during the control system upgrade. The combination of automation and project management specialists worked perfectly Gietl adds that It is only through years of intense and proven collaboration with Siemens that Pilkington has been able to complete a project of this complexity without any problems in such a short period of time.