Upgrading control systems for an agri-food company

A world leader in the agri-food sector wanted to increase its plant production capacity but was dealing with an aging control infrastructure. As a result, it sought out experts to help upgrade its control systems and guide its technological choices.

Client: Agri-food company (confidential)
Location: Montérégie, Québec

OUR EXPERTS’ SOLUTIONS

Several years ago, the plant’s production server was used for a vast number of tasks. Many processes depended on this system, which caused a single point of failure and therefore a real risk to the plant operating properly.

This mandate involved a range of challenges. In addition to the varied and complex ramifications, the server had to be replaced while the plant was still in continuous production and with only one weekend of complete shutdown. The proposed solution also had to meet internal IT infrastructure standards.

BBA experts designed a server migration plan that was reviewed by all stakeholders. In addition to the technological aspect, it included a change management and communication plan, as well as a rollback plan.

They also set up a testbed of the systems to be migrated to test the proposed solution in a real-world setting.

Work performed:

Reverse engineered applications and transactions
Developed the software migration plan
Developed the transactional migration plan

Developed the rollback plan
Developed the change management and communication plan

IN THE WORDS OF OUR EXPERT…

“Like a growing majority of manufacturing companies in Québec and elsewhere in Canada, our client was struggling with aging systems whose technology was adapted to past realities and prevented it from meeting growing customer demands. The systems also limited the client’s ability to keep pace with the digital revolution.

So, the client mandated our team, specialized in systems integration, to develop THE plan and select the technology that would secure its plant operations not only during the migration, but for years to come.”

Mario Côté, Automation Engineer, BBA

IN NUMBERS

Duration: 6 months
Migrated applications: 12
Migrated databases: 6
Lost production hours: 0
Lost data: 0
Required rollbacks: 0

DO YOU HAVE A SIMILAR CHALLENGE?

TRUST US WITH YOUR PROJECT