Jim Montague is the Executive Editor of Control. Jim has spent the last 13 years as an editor and brings a wealth of automation and controls knowledge to the position.
Even experienced machine builders need help going global. Harmony Enterprises in Harmony, Minn., has been building compactors and baling machines that process scrap packaging for more than 40 years. These include balers that can eliminate 98% of liquid in a bale, allowing users to sell higher-quality scrap to recyclers, and earn as much as three times more per pound of aluminum.
However, when a multinational beverage company ordered a high-capacity baler for delivery in three months for its bottling operations in Europe, Harmony's designers and engineers decided they needed some outside help to meet the user's design requirements. The SSG2 horizontal baler would need more capable controls in a more integrated platform in Europe, and so they worked with Rockwell Automation's global OEM technical consultant (GOTC) team and distributor Werner Electric to help the SSG2 comply with ISO 13849 and IEC 6206q international safety standards.
Source: Harmony Enterprises
"Harmony might be a small company headquartered in a small town, but this partnership has helped us grow into a global company," says Steve Cremer, Harmony's president. "Because the safety elements of the new baler meet international safety standards, we can leverage the same design with new customers worldwide."
Following its first project in Europe, Harmony is using repeatable electrical designs and programming instructions from SSG2 to save 70% on the engineering time needed to deliver 75 of its H60XL horizontal balers to another European customer in less than two years.
