How Applied Motion Systems replaced manual damper adjustments with closed-loop mold cooling control and gave a multi-plant operation its first real view of what’s happening on the floor.
The Problem: Manual Cooling Control in a Process That Can’t Afford Variability
Glass container forming doesn’t leave much margin for error. Molten glass is metered, cut into gobs, and distributed to individual section molds on an IS machine. In this process, cooling consistency directly determines whether the container comes out right or is rejected to the cullet bin.
The legacy approach to mold cooling relied on manually adjusted dampers and constant-speed fans. Operators made calls based on experience and observation, adjusting airflow to the forming machine as conditions changed: ambient temperature, production job, section status, and time of day.
The problem isn’t that operators made bad decisions. The problem is that the process varied depending on who was making them. Inconsistent cooling produced inconsistent containers, and inconsistent containers meant reduced yield. There was no plant-level visibility into what was happening at the forming machine, no early warning on cooling system condition, and no way to know how the system was performing until something went wrong or quality slipped.
The manufacturer also had a longer-term problem: production demands were growing and changing, and a fixed-capacity, manually operated cooling system wasn’t going to scale with them.
The ask: standardize mold cooling across plants, automate it, optimize operations with real data, and build something that could grow as production scaled.
The Solution: Closed-Loop Cooling Control Built Into a Scalable SCADA Framework
Applied Motion Systems had been working in the glass container manufacturing industry for decades. This project started as a pilot, a single system at a single plant, and was designed from the beginning to become something larger.
AMS collaborated with plant engineers to build a Mold Cooling and Plant Monitoring System centered on Rockwell Automation control technology, with InduSoft Web Studio SCADA running across multiple operator terminals. The architecture is distributed by design: remote I/O collection points handle the harsh, high-temperature, high-humidity environments around the forming machine, feeding data back to a control system that tracks and responds to it in real time.
Drive cabinet with redundant 450HP VFD's
The cooling itself is controlled through two automation elements working together: a variable speed 450hp fan motor (backed by a hot spare VFD, so the system can keep running while maintenance is performed) and motion controlled Inlet Guide Vane damper (IGV) at the fan inlet, driven by a rotary actuator. Fan speed and IGV position are continuously adjusted using feedback from air duct temperature and pressure sensors, ambient conditions, and IS machine status, thus relieving the operator from these tasks and building a database of historical data with which to train the system for optimum operation.
When individual sections go down for mold swaps, the system compensates automatically. When the IS machine is offline for a job changeover, the system transitions to a low-energy standby state and resumes automatically when production resumes. No operator intervention required.
Fan bearing health is continuously monitored using 2-in-1 vibration and temperature sensors that evaluate each bearing in the X, Y, and Z directions. Continuous monitoring of bearing health, atmospheric conditions, machine status, and container quality provided a variety of benefits ranging from directed PM activities to continuous improvement to operating conditions as historical data informed improvements in cooling methodologies across multiple plants.
The SCADA layer is where this becomes more than a cooling system. InduSoft provides trending, alarming, email notifications, reporting, and remote web client access for anyone from a floor supervisor to a corporate manager. Historical data for all devices is logged to redundant databases at each plant. Remote support, whether over the network or via a cellular unit for direct PLC and VFD access, enables AMS to troubleshoot in real time without putting someone on a plane.
No two installations are identical. Each deployment has been refined based on what the previous one taught us, features have been added, and integration has expanded, including I/O Link water flow measurement and data exchange with other plant systems. The platform was designed to grow, and it has.
The Results: What the System Actually Changed
Manual cooling adjustment removed from the production workflow. Closed-loop control means the system responds to what’s actually happening at the forming machine: ambient swings, section changes, job transitions, without operator input. The variability that came with manual damper management is gone.
Glass container quality and yield improved. Consistent cooling produces more consistent containers. That’s the direct output of removing human variation from a process where variation costs yield.
Fan reliability extended, maintenance made predictable. Bearing condition monitoring across three axes provides plant teams with advanced warning of mechanical wear. Redundant VFDs mitigate drive issues and prevent unplanned production stops. Maintenance occurs on a schedule, not in response to a failure.
Energy consumption reduced. VFD control of fan motor speed means the system operates at an optimum production level, not at a fixed rate. Automated standby mode during job changes and machine downtime compounds these savings across every shift.
Plant-wide visibility established. The SCADA platform isn’t an HMI for one cooling system. It’s a foundation, with hundreds of sensors, remote access, and historical logging, a first step toward plant digitalization that has continued to expand with each new deployment.
About Applied Motion Systems
AMS is a systems integrator and machine builder. Our work is in motion control and industrial automation systems, across glass container manufacturing, paper converting, web handling, aerospace tooling, and applications most companies haven’t tried before.
We’ve been working in the glass container industry long enough to understand the forming process, the IS machine environment, and what plant teams actually need from a control system. Not just at commissioning, but for the lifetime of the equipment, when the evolving demands and technology have changed, and the system needs to keep pace with these changes.
If your mold cooling system is running on manual adjustments, or your plant data is living in silos that limit its value, we would welcome the opportunity to understand your operation and explore what’s possible.
