Since the late 1990s, 80,000 tons of textiles have been sorted annually at the Apolda plant of Resales Textilhandels- und Recycling GmbH in Thuringia and processed for recycling or sale in second-hand stores. An important contribution to sustainability! The Erfurt-based Eckelmann subsidiary REX Automatisierungstechnik (REX AT) modernized and expanded the control technology and software, with implementation taking place during the company’s vacation period in just two weeks – without any loss of production.
“Our colleagues at REX Automatisierungstechnik planned the project with great care and adhered perfectly to the agreed schedule. The successful implementation has made a decisive contribution to ensuring long-term production capacity at our site in Apolda,” says David Knappe, Head of Infrastructure at Resales Textilhandels- und Recycling GmbH, praising the automation.
Collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling: With over 900 employees, 80 of its own second-hand shops, and Germany’s second-largest sorting plant in Apolda, Thuringia, Resales Textilhandels- und Recycling GmbH is one of the leading textile recycling organizations in Germany. Across the group, around 80,000 tons of used textiles are collected annually in around 16,500 used textile containers, 9,000 of which are in Germany. The company thus makes an important contribution to the sustainable recycling of textiles.
Textiles for the second-hand market are sorted at the plant in Apolda. The system, which was installed by a plant manufacturer at the end of the 1990s, has become less reliable over the years. Key control components have already been discontinued and are no longer available as spare parts. There is also a lack of qualified personnel who can provide support in the event of malfunctions or maintain the outdated technology – a considerable risk for system availability and continuous operation.
Modernization of all electrical equipment
Rex AT was commissioned to modernize all of the plant’s electrical equipment, including control technology and software. The aim of the retrofit project is to ensure the operational reliability and availability of the plant for years to come by using the latest hardware components and a modern, future-proof software architecture. The plant was modernized, expanded, and optimized to meet future requirements and enable reliable support in the long term. A particular focus was placed on ensuring support options in the event of malfunctions, as well as enabling optimization and expansion for the future.
The textile sorting plant is divided into several areas and combines automatic and manual stations where plant operators carry out the various sorting processes.
The swap bodies filled with used textiles from the used clothing containers are first hooked onto a crane system. From there, the goods are transported fully automatically via a conveyor belt system to the workstations for initial pre-sorting. At these workstations, employees carry out a rough sorting of the textiles before the pre-sorted goods are forwarded via the conveyor belt system to the second pre-sorting stage.
In the second pre-sorting stage, the goods are divided into 32 different types at 16 workstations. The sorted textiles are then transported via conveyor belts and a ceiling trolley to the post-sorting stage. There, the goods are classified according to their quality.
Simple operation via central control panels
The work orders are managed and set either via a central control panel directly on the system or from the control room. There, the sorting categories can be defined and configured, or the operating modes of the system can be selected.
Step by step, the REX Automatisierungstechnik team took on the modernization and future orientation of the textile sorting system.
Within the Eckelmann Group, a team from the Wiesbaden-based AG led by Torsten Seidl created the PLC and prepared the HMI software – a successful example of effective, cross-departmental and cross-location collaboration within the group.
- Recording of the current status and review of documentation
- Survey of requirements for modernizing control technology and software
- Concept and electrical project planning
- Integration of existing hardware: REX AT used the existing hardware and field cabling and replaced all electrical and control components with a view to future-proofing.
- Delivery of electrical equipment, including switch cabinet construction
- PLC software development with Siemens S7
- Controls are connected via a machine network and exchange information via a Profinet interface
- Development of user-friendly HMI
- Installation and cabling
- Commissioning and test runs
- Reissue of software documentation
- Ongoing service and support for the plant software by REX AT – including enhancements and optimizations.