Flexicon Expands Controls Department
Flexicon Corporation USA has doubled the size of the Controls Department at its 8,361 sq m manufacturing facility and world headquarters, it was announced by Simon Hall, applications engineering manager.
The expansion allows for the additional staff and workstations needed to produce higher volumes of controls that are more sophisticated.
The expansion coincided with the department’s conversion from mechanical to programmable logic relays (PLRs) said to reduce the cost, size and potential failure associated with analog timers and hard relays, while adding digital programmability to individual equipment functions. The department also employ programmable logic controllers (PLCs) for more sophisticated equipment such as weigh batching systems, pneumatic systems and plant-wide bulk handling systems.
A new area equipped with simulated scale systems, electric motors, various sensors and other production-scale inputs and outputs allows 100 percent bench testing of monitoring and control functions.
Smart controls allow simple programming of equipment functions by the customer, and emailing of programs to and from the Controls Department for troubleshooting, reinstallation or customisation.
In November 2007, the company doubled the size of its Engineering Department and increased engineering personnel by 50 percent.
Flexicon manufacture mechanical conveyors, pneumatic conveying systems, bulk bag unloaders, bulk bag conditioners, bulk bag fillers, bag dump stations, lift-and-seal drum dumpers, weigh batching and blending systems, and automated plant-wide systems for handling of bulk chemical, food, dairy, and pharmaceutical products.
