Project Case Studies
A selection of the machines, lines and systems delivered since 1994. In every case, the control software was written from scratch to the customer's specification.
Ford Motor Company
Dual-processor industrial PC, Applicom comms interface, Adlink DAQ hardware, 19" remote touchscreen
High-speed data acquisition software monitoring the energy transferred to the mains and pins of a crankshaft during induction hardening - up to 64 channels at 250,000 samples per channel per second. Records a known-good part signature, applies user tolerances, and reports pass/fail back to the controlling PLC. Later extended to read a vision-system data matrix off the crank and store it with SPC data for upload to the Ford QMS system.
Walkers Crisps
13 x Siemens S7-300 PLCs linked via Ethernet, OP7 & OP17 HMI
A complete pallet-routing control system tied into the factory management system (FMS) over Ethernet. As palletised boxes left production, an automated size and barcode reader captured pallet data, notified the FMS, and the PLC then planned and executed a route to the FMS-assigned destination across 13 zones, 3 square kilometres of floor space and up to 5km of conveyors, monorail and cranes. All S7-300 communications software written from scratch to the customer's spec.
Aries
ABB robot with Mitsubishi PLC control system
A robot cell gluing two injection-moulded halves together to form the rear spoiler for the Nissan Micra Sport. Manually loaded via an indexing table, the robot presented parts to a static glue dispenser, handshaking to start/stop delivery, then placed the glued components into one of four nests to clamp and cure before automatic unload.
British Timken
Allen-Bradley SLC5/03 PLC, PanelView 550 HMI, Staubli robot
A handling system for advanced package bearing manufacture: five conveyors handshaking with four pieces of third-party machinery, plus a robot loading, unloading and gauging parts turned by an Okuma NC lathe. Delivered as a contract for NCMT Automation.
FLYGT
Allen-Bradley SLC5/03 PLC, industrial PC with 15" touchscreen HMI, DeviceNet for 7 servo axes
An automatic coil winder for motor production, with a 3-axis wire-handling tool that holds the wire ends during winding and cuts on completion - so the machine never lets go of the wire, removing operator intervention between coils. The coil program supported up to 2,600 individual parameters per coil. HMI written in VB6 with an Access database for program storage.
Delphi Diesel Systems
Siemens S7-300 & S7-400 PLCs, OP7 HMI
An assembly machine for the next generation of diesel injectors, effectively two machines fused together - one end controlled by an S7-400, the other by an S7-300 - communicating via MPI. Integrated a Moores measurement system over Modbus to keep every assembly stage within specification. Went on to secure orders for two further machines.
GKN
Allen-Bradley SLC5/03 PLC, 2 x PanelView 1000 HMI
A pallet-handling system loading and unloading 8 NC lathes producing cylinder liners for Volvo. The control system distributed pallets across two shared operations dynamically, based on demand, tool life expectancy and feedback - not simple round-robin. Data tracking used Euchner inductive read/write heads over Allen-Bradley BASIC-T modules, with comms software written to the Euchner master profile.
Mahle Engine Components
Siemens S7 & TIA Portal
Three years as a software consultant at Mahle's global technology centre in Rugby, developing the next generation of modular bearing grading and sorting machines supplied to Mahle manufacturing sites worldwide. Modules included measurement, vision check, dynamic 2D data matrix printing, sorting and marking.
Multi Automation
Siemens S7 & TIA Portal, Allen-Bradley ControlLogix, ABB / Fanuc / Yaskawa robots
Three years writing, developing and commissioning bespoke machines and complete production lines for customers across Mexico, the United States and the UK.
AWE Burghfield
Siemens TIA Portal, WinCC
Current role (Aug 2024-present, SC cleared). Initial power-up checks of plant handed to the commissioning team, setting instrumentation to work, fault finding and resolution, system function testing ahead of customer-witnessed SAT, PID loop tuning, and software corrections fed back for inclusion in future revisions.
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