Metalsa Roanoke fabricates frame rails for truck manufacturers such as Volvo, Mack, Freightliner and ThomasBuilt. Each rail is custom made according to customer specifications electronically transmitted to Metalsa’s computer systems.

When Metalsa decided to build a second plant, they selected Synchrony to provide system integration services and develop controls for the material handling system. The material handling control system is responsible for communicating with Metalsa’s Cimitar MES system, moving and tracking the unfinished rails between Metalsa’s highly automated manufacturing cells.

Synchrony initially worked with Metalsa engineering and IT staff, and numerous other vendors to develop a design for integrating all the pieces into a fully automated manufacturing facility.

Additional services provided by Synchrony included:

• Preparing electrical schematics
• Fabricating six large PLC control panels containing nearly 100 Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700 variable frequency drives
• Setting up and configuring Ethernet, ControlNet and DeviceNet networks
• Configuring and tuning the PowerFlex 700 drives
• Programming five ControlLogix PLCs
• Programming seven PanelView operator interfaces

During the plant startup, Synchrony worked with the various equipment vendors and suppliers to ensure proper overall system operation. Synchrony was credited with being instrumental in reducing the first phase of the startup from three months to three weeks.