The Harris family has been farming for over 100 years, and the Fresno County farm has been under continuous family operation since 1937. Since its founding, Harris Farms has grown into one of the largest agribusinesses in the nation and is California’s largest cattle feeder, fed beef processor and beef marketer. Today Harris Farms is one of the largest integrated farming operations in the Central San Joaquin Valley which is one of the largest and most productive farming regions in the world. The Harris Family has always taken great pride in their crops and their beef, and raised both to be as pure and great tasting as nature intended. Related companies include Harris Ranch Inn and Restaurant which are visited by more than 500,000 guests annually, plus the famous Harris Farms Thoroughbred
Farm.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with John Riley, the lead electrical technology supervisor for Harris Ranch Beef. As of recent, Mr. Riley has chosen to implement one of our latest stand alone WinCON Windows CE.net controllers at Harris Ranch’s main facility. The WinCON controllers are ICP DAS’s latest line of powerful standalone PC/PLC hybrid devices. The controller itself is
programmable in countless languages including, but not limited to: Ladder Logic, Flow Chart, Studio.Net, VB.Net, VC, C#, and many more. The true power behind this module is the integrated
standalone 206Mhz Intel Strong ARM CPU, running 64MB SRAM, 32MB Flash Memory, 16kb EEPROM, with a real time clock, a 10 Base T Ethernet port, video port, 2 PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse integration, as well as a compact flash slot with 128MB compact Flash, a 1.1 USB port, and Windows CE 4.1 pre installed. The unit also features a built in HMI, making it extremely easy to build a personalized, and animated tailor made HMI for almost any application. Like all of ICP DAS’s products, the entire WinCON line has met and surpassed rigorous industrial testing, making them applicable in almost any extreme industrial situation ranging between -25ºc and +75ºc. In this application, John has integrated the W-8336 WinCON module to serve as an automated alarm controller, which allows the Quality Control Department to access and monitor the process in real time, using an internet explorer .IE web browser on their LAN network. When asked, Riley was ecstatic as to the overall performance and results of the product’s integration. John mentioned that in his opinion there are no rivals to our WinCON controllers at the current price/technology point. He went on to mention that the W-8336’s ease of use was second to none, and that a very linear learning curve is needed to interact with the provided ISAGRAF software. Interestingly enough, the thing that impressed Riley the most was the module’s ability to withstand the absolutely extreme environment in which it resides. If you weren’t aware already, this particular module calls home to Harris Ranch’s main beef processing plant; where it comes in contact with everything from extreme temperatures, high moisture levels, and even biological waste. Ultimately, Riley feels that the advantages to implementing the WinCON are almost too great to list, and stated “It has been absolutely great to use in every sense”. With such a delicate operation at hand, this state of the art stand alone PC/PLC allows the quality control department to focus on various other aspects of the operation, while leaving complete control over carcass pasteurization under the precise watch of an accurate and reliable device.
