Read the full Application Story to find out what they achieved.
The cotton gin facility owned by Milstead Farm Group Inc. in Shorter, Alabama, requires a production process that can run at optimum levels 24 hours a day, six days a week until all the growing season’s cotton is in bales. When Milstead Farm Group first started ginning, it produced 15,000 (500 lb.) bales a year. Their volumes have gradually increased over the years, topping 65,000 bales in 2018. As a result, production rates have had to increase to achieve those numbers. Increasing production demands required not only better equipment but the fine-tuning of process controls, changing to a more powerful PLC and local I/O rack at the end of the 2017 ginning season, and installing a new PROFINET communications backbone after the 2018 season.
When your factory can only run three months out of the year, there’s no question that your primary mission must be to get the maximum yield out of your raw materials. The cotton gin facility owned by Milstead Farm Group Inc. in Shorter, Alabama, requires a production process that can run at optimum levels 24 hours a day, six days a week until all the growing season’s cotton is in bales. Given the seasonality of its operation, maximizing productivity has been the goal since 1998, when a group of investors, many of them farmers, decided to build a more efficient gin.
Cotton Ginning Facility
When Milstead Farm Group first started ginning, it produced 15,000 (500 lb.) bales a year. But by continually investing in new equipment and paying attention to the proper maintenance of existing systems, volumes have gradually increased over the years, topping 65,000 bales in 2018. Production rates have had to increase to achieve those numbers, from 25 bales an hour in 1998 to 50 bales an hour currently. This has required not only better equipment but the fine-tuning of process controls, changing to a more powerful PLC and local I/O rack at the end of the 2017 ginning season, and installing a new PROFINET communications backbone after the 2018 season.
Read the full Application Story to find out what they achieved.