Automation technology

Valtalia, a Galician waste management company, needed to fully automate a new 15,000 m² material recovery plant in Cerceda, Spain — won through public tender for a 15-year operating contract. The facility would process 500,000 to 550,000 tons of waste annually from over 2.2 million inhabitants across the region. The challenge required coordinating more than 500 control units overseeing conveyors, trommels, crushing and sorting machinery, plus over 150 variable-frequency drives — all integrated via industrial communications. Existing plants were over 15 years old, dependent on large control rooms and extensive cabling networks, making the legacy approach operationally inefficient and unsuitable for the scale and automation requirements of the new facility.

Rockwell Automation, working with Galician systems integrator Asinova, delivered a fully integrated automation stack across hardware, software, and industrial networking layers. The FactoryTalk View SCADA system provides plant-wide start/stop control in both automatic and manual modes, managed via wireless tablets that give operators real-time visibility from the floor. GuardLogix 5580 L83 PLCs handle process, safety, and motion control, with SIL2-PLd and SIL3-Ple safety zone programming to enforce compliance. PowerFlex 525 AC Drives run in ECO (low-power) mode with Ethernet connectivity and automatic deviation alerts. Stratix 5700 and 5100 switches provide the Ethernet/IP DLR ring and fiber optic backbone, while Studio 5000 software underpins overall programming and productivity. The architecture eliminated centralized cabling and local command panels in favor of a fully wireless, tablet-driven operational model.

The new plant nearly doubled processing capacity — each sorting line handles up to 40 tons per hour (120 tons combined), raising total throughput to 750,000–1,000,000 tons per year. Recycled material output quadrupled, with projections targeting landfill diversion to just 10% of total waste by 2020 — 15 years ahead of EU 2035 targets. Key outcomes include:

• 2× increase in tons of waste directly recycled at the facility
• 4× increase in material transferred to other recycling facilities
• Reduced maintenance costs through elimination of physical cabling and local control panels
• Faster incident response enabled by real-time wireless monitoring across the entire plant
• Scalable infrastructure designed for 365/24 continuous operation with room for Industry 4.0 expansion

• Wireless, tablet-based plant management eliminates traditional control room constraints and significantly reduces cabling infrastructure costs.
• Integrated safety programming (SIL2/SIL3 via GuardLogix PLCs) should be designed into the architecture from the start — not retrofitted after commissioning.
• Phasing the implementation (hardware → networking → PLC/SCADA programming) reduces risk on large-scale automation projects with hundreds of control points.
• Scalable network architecture (DLR ring, fiber optics) is essential for facilities targeting future Industry 4.0 or IoT integration.
• Selecting a single primary automation vendor simplifies integration and reduces interoperability risk across drives, controllers, switches, and software layers.