Dan-Web

Dan-Web, a Denmark-based manufacturer of turnkey airlaid production lines serving global specialty paper and hygiene product manufacturers, faced a complex integration challenge when tasked with building one of its largest machines to date: a 90-meter-long, 12-meter-high airlaid production plant for a 18,580 m² facility in the USA. The machine required seamless connection with the customer's existing Allen-Bradley automation infrastructure while managing over 400 TCP/IP-connected devices and 200 safety connections. Coordinating this network topology across a machine of this scale — with a two-year lead time between order and delivery — demanded a fully unified control architecture to avoid costly commissioning delays and prolonged integration work.

Dan-Web deployed a Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture solution built entirely on EtherNet/IP, enabling all primary components to communicate over a single network and be programmed within the Studio 5000 software environment. The hardware stack comprised three Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PACs (2× L72S, 1× L85), 217 PowerFlex 525, 753, and 755 variable-speed drives, five Kinetix 5500 servo drives, 28 PanelView Plus 7 Performance HMIs, and 12 Stratix 5400/5700 Ethernet switches, complemented by POINT I/O modules and safety components. Rockwell Automation's Global OEM Technical Consultants (GOTC) supported PLC programming, motion profile creation, and network topology design. The unified platform meant a single wiring standard (patch cable per device) replaced multi-wire panel configurations, and all drives deployed safety over Ethernet, substantially reducing panel complexity.

The integrated single-platform approach delivered measurable reductions in engineering time and commissioning complexity. Key outcomes included:

• Reduced programming and configuration time through Studio 5000 as the sole development environment across all control components
• Simplified wiring — Ethernet connectivity replaced multi-wire panel installations, with each device requiring only a patch cable
• Seamless integration with the customer's existing Allen-Bradley automation infrastructure, eliminating retrofit risk
• Single HMI template reused across all 28 PanelView displays, reducing HMI development overhead
• Reusable codebase — Dan-Web confirmed subsequent projects using the same Allen-Bradley platform could directly reuse programming and configuration work from this installation

• Standardizing on a single automation platform (hardware + software) significantly compresses engineering, wiring, and commissioning timelines on large-scale OEM machine builds.
• When managing 400+ networked devices, early collaborative network topology planning between the OEM and the automation vendor is critical to avoiding costly redesigns.
• Designing for code reusability from the outset — common HMI templates, reusable PLC programs — pays dividends across subsequent machine orders.
• Aligning the machine's control architecture with the end customer's existing infrastructure reduces integration risk and shortens startup time at the installation site.
• Global technical support coverage from the automation vendor is a non-negotiable requirement for high-capital OEM equipment deployed across international markets.