Compac Sorting Equipment Cuts Engineering Time 80% with Unified Control Platform

Compac Sorting Equipment, a global leader in automated produce sorting machinery, operated across multiple international markets including New Zealand, Canada, and the United States — each with distinct machine configurations and engineering requirements. The company's machine lineup relied on disparate control components from different suppliers, meaning engineers had to manage separate software environments, programming tools, and spare parts inventories for drives, PLCs, and safety systems. This fragmentation created significant overhead: every design iteration, code change, or customer customization required specialized effort across multiple platforms, slowing development cycles and increasing costs at a time when global competition demanded faster time-to-market.

To consolidate its automation architecture, Compac partnered with Rockwell Automation and distributor NHP to standardize its entire machine lineup on a unified control platform. The implementation centered on Allen-Bradley Micro850 and Micro820 PLCs paired with PowerFlex 4M and 40 variable frequency drives, all configured through Connected Components Workbench — a single software environment capable of programming drives, controllers, and safety components simultaneously. The Micro850's flexible communications options and expanded I/O capabilities were enablers that let Compac's engineering team handle code conversion in-house instead of relying on external resources. The solution was designed to serve machines destined for three separate international markets from a single, consistent hardware and software baseline, reducing regional variation without sacrificing local compliance requirements.

Standardizing on a unified control platform improved Compac's engineering operations. The headline outcome was an 80% reduction in engineering time, the direct result of eliminating redundant programming effort across previously incompatible systems. Key outcomes include:

• Single software environment now configures drives, PLCs, and safety components, eliminating context-switching between tools
• In-house code conversion became feasible with the Micro850's expanded I/O and communications flexibility, reducing reliance on external engineering support
• Simplified spare parts management across global customer installations, lowering support complexity and inventory costs
• Faster design iteration across international machine variants without rebuilding platform-specific configurations

• Platform standardization pays off at every stage: the 80% engineering time reduction came from eliminating redundant effort across design, configuration, testing, and support, not from a single optimization.
• Unified software tooling is as important as unified hardware; a single environment that spans drives, PLCs, and safety components removes a significant source of engineering friction.
• Expanded I/O and communication flexibility in the chosen controller enabled in-house capability that previously required outsourcing — evaluate total capability, not just unit cost.
• For machine builders serving multiple geographies, a common control platform reduces both customer training burden and spare parts complexity across global installations.