Arnott's

Arnott's Adelaide facility — responsible for producing iconic Australian products including Tim Tams and Shapes — was running on legacy Allen-Bradley SLC controllers that had reached the limits of their operational lifespan. In food and beverage manufacturing, ageing control infrastructure creates compounding risk: spare parts become scarce, diagnostic visibility narrows, and any unplanned downtime directly impacts production throughput and shelf commitments to retailers. The SLC platform also lacked the connectivity required for modern smart manufacturing practices, leaving engineering teams without real-time insight into cooling systems and conveyor operations. Continued reliance on this architecture constrained the plant's flexibility and created growing exposure to unplanned production stoppages.

Arnott's partnered with Rockwell Automation to migrate the Adelaide plant's SLC controllers to the modern ControlLogix platform using Rockwell's RSLogix Project Migrator tool, which automated the translation of existing ladder logic to reduce manual re-programming risk and engineering hours. Seven new PowerFlex 525 variable frequency drives were installed across cooling systems and conveyors, each providing real-time diagnostic connectivity back to plant systems. The migration was executed without production loss — a critical requirement given the facility's continuous manufacturing schedule. The ControlLogix architecture integrates tightly with Rockwell's programming software and I/O modules, enabling a unified control environment that replaced the fragmented, isolated visibility of the legacy SLC setup. The result is an Ethernet-connected plant floor capable of supporting further smart manufacturing initiatives.

The migration delivered immediate reductions in engineering time and cost, driven by the tight integration between ControlLogix hardware, Studio 5000 programming software, and the facility's I/O modules — eliminating the manual rework that typically accompanies legacy controller replacements. Qualitative outcomes included:

• Improved diagnostic visibility across cooling and conveyor systems via real-time data from PowerFlex 525 drives
• Increased operational flexibility through a modern, scalable control architecture
• Zero unplanned downtime during the migration itself, protecting production continuity for Tim Tam and Shapes lines
• Enhanced connectivity enabling the Adelaide facility to participate in broader smart manufacturing programs

The engineering team gained a platform that supports proactive fault detection rather than reactive maintenance responses.

• Automated migration tools like RSLogix Project Migrator materially reduce re-programming risk and cost when moving from SLC to ControlLogix — evaluate them before scoping manual effort.
• Phasing drive replacements (cooling, then conveyors) alongside controller migration allows teams to validate connectivity incrementally without halting production.
• In food and beverage, the business case for legacy modernisation should anchor on downtime risk and spare parts availability, not just feature gains.
• Standardising on a single control platform accelerates future integrations — each subsequent project inherits existing connectivity rather than rebuilding it.
• Plan migration windows around production schedules; zero-downtime execution is achievable but requires detailed pre-migration logic validation.