ABB and Tetra Pak Sign Global Purchase Agreement

March 03, 2006
ABB
News

Summary

Zurich, Switzerland, March 3, 2006—ABB announced today that ABB and Tetra Pak have signed a global purchase agreement for worldwide implementation of ABB's automation products. The first contract is for System 800xA Extended Automation; other future contracts may include instrumentation, motors, drives and low voltage products. Tetra Pak is a leader in providing preferred solutions for food processing and packaging to food manufacturers. "Tetra Pak supplies dairy and beverages processes and carton packaging from factories all over the world," says Lars-Eric Dentner, responsible for automation at Tetra Pak Processing Systems. "It is important for us to have a supplier with a complete product portfolio, who can also offer support on a global basis." The first countries to implement the purchase agreement are Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands. The cooperation between ABB and Tetra Pak will also include implementation in the rapidly growing markets in Asia, particularly in China. "For System 800xA, we have developed an industry-specific solution for food manufacturing," says Bertil Andersson, ABB Global Account Manager for Tetra Pak. "This solution has been very well received by customers as it offers efficient engineering with good testing possibilities, which minimizes the commissioning period." After the successful pilot installations of System 800xA in Denmark and the Netherlands, Tetra Pak received several new orders from their food manufacturing customers. The Newmarket Dairy in Ireland and Dairy Farmers of Britain's (DFB) Llandyrnog creamery in North Wales have chosen to upgrade their existing automation systems to System 800xA. ABB's incremental evolution approach will ensure that System 800xA functionality is delivered to these dairies with minimal disturbances to their production. The Llandyrnog creamery will use System 800xA and a site-wide ERP system to improve productivity and utilization of internal and external resources; this project underscores DFB's commitment to using the very latest technology to deliver the very best product to their farmers and consumers. Commissioning of both projects has already begun. Within the same timeframe, Tetra Pak received two new orders for upgrades from customers in Taiwan. In Sweden, food manufacturer Procordia Food in Kumla recently completed installation of System 800xA. The application code was transferred to System 800xA; the changeover was successfully made during a single weekend. Milko, the largest Swedish owned co-operative dairy enterprise, ordered a complete replacement of one of their existing automation systems in Karlstad with about 4500 signals. The installation will be implemented incrementally over the next two years. Arla Foods, Europe's largest dairy company, recently ordered an upgrade of their existing automation system in Stockholm with about 6000 signals. The first phase includes conversion of the control code and the commissioning is planned to take place over a single weekend in June 2006. System 800xA extends the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single operations and engineering environment so that plants/mills can run smarter and better at substantial cost savings. Its reach extends well beyond the realm of essential process control to production management, safety, smart instrumentation, smart drives and motor control, information management, asset optimization, simulation and documentation. System 800xA's unique engineering environment manages one set of consistent data, for single-point entry, single-point change, and re-use across the plant. System 800xA Extended Automation was chosen by Control Engineering magazine to receive an Editors' Choice Award as one of the best products introduced in 2004. ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 103,000 people. Tetra Pak's motto 'protect what's good' reflects the philosophy upon which we conduct our business in order to make food safe and available, everywhere. Operating in more than 165 countries with 20,900 employees, Tetra Pak believes in responsible industry leadership, creating profitable growth in harmony with environmental sustainability and good corporate citizenship. Tetra Pak works closely with their suppliers and customers on processing and packaging solutions to provide convenient and innovative products to millions of people worldwide. (www.tetrapak.com)

Did you enjoy this great article?

Check out our free e-newsletters to read more great articles..