Spangler based in Töging has manufactured automation solutions for international markets for 38 years. During this period, the company has grown step by step regarding personnel and premises. Space is created for future projects by the new construction of a 1.200m² large double-storey production and administration building.

Designed around processes

“Our building contains a long-term vision for the future of our employees and customers,” says Managing Director Tina Lambert describing the new construction. For the Managing Director it is not only about first-class equipment of the rooms with network and multimedia technology. At Spangler it is more about thinking in processes. Among other things, this includes a team working room in which you can work interdisciplinary on projects and solutions. A quiet working room is available for work which demands a high level of concentration.

Always exactly appropriate

Three new training and conference rooms provide an individual offer of space for every meeting. The two smaller rooms can be used both in sitting and standing position thanks to flexible equipment. The manufacturing of the switch and control system is located in the basement. Beside an optimisation of the process sequence, especially the FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) areas generate a clear added value. Separated by the remaining manufacturing process, there are several areas available to carry out up to three approvals together with the customer, free from interference.

“Of course we need to act economically, however, attractive regional working places are the motor for innovative products of tomorrow,” Tina Lambert summarises the construction.

Groundbreaking by the management board and managers

Politics and economics are both preoccupied with the recovery of energy and phosphorus or the reduction of sewage sludge. As a long-term supplier of SCADA and control systems in sewage treatment plants Spangler GmbH is repeatedly confronted with the question how the efficiency can be increased and how the resources can be better used with a differentiated automation. This was also the case when the company Pondus Verfahrenstechnik GmbH commissioned Spangler Automation to install a completely new disintegration plant at the sewage treatment plant Göppingen.

Energy-efficient thermal-chemical disintegration

With the thermal-chemical disintegration the sewage sludge is heated and with the addition of base degraded to organic compounds. While the recovery of energy and gas is considerably increased, the organic residues in the digested sewage and the dewatering is improved. Consequently, the dry substances in the dewatered sludge is increased and the amount of sewage sludge which is to be disposed is decreased.

Pondus Verfahrenstechnik GmbH makes use of the thermal-chemical disintegration in its plant, however, puts its focus on multiple usage of the heat applied. The plant is constructed in a way that for example heating and cooling water can be used as heat carrier from a cogeneration unit. The remaining heat in the sludge after heating is reused in the subsequent processing steps, as for example digestion. Therefore, besides the above-mentioned advantage of cell disruption, the operators of the sewage treatment plant also benefit from an environmentally conscious energy balance.

Comprehensive control technology

As technical service provider for Pondus GmbH Spangler Automation took over programming and visual illustration of all process flows. Three control cabinets were equipped with Siemens PLC S7-1500-PN, which is linked with the process control system of the sewage treatment plant Göppingen for comprehensive data analysis and control. This can be operated locally or via remote access. The Spangler programme on the Siemens touch screen HMI TP1200 allows intuitive working on the clear plant diagram at the plant. The continuous operation mode of the control system of the pumps, which are responsible for the outlet, the circulation and the heating water, is ensured reliably by several frequency converters. The plant was installed and put into operation by a Spangler team in July 2019. The Environment Secretary of Baden-Württemberg Franz Untersteller praised the commitment of the company: „Here Göppingen makes a significant contribution to the strategy of recovery of phosphorus in Baden-Württemberg.“

The city Bello located in the North West of Colombia is currently building one of the largest plants for sewage sludge worldwide. The project is designed for a population of 2.75 million inhabitants and can drain about 400 tons or 25 truckloads of sewage sludge. The operating company uses the waste heat of gas turbines for the drying. Afterwards the dried sludge is burned and thus energetically used again.

Spangler planned, engineered and programmed the automation technology for the plant on behalf of Huber SE in Berching. Furthermore, the start-up was supported via Spangler Sky Service from Germany but also on site.

Redundant SCADA system

In order to reach the daily capacity planned, three belt dryer streets operate with a drying capacity of 6.5 cubic metres of sewage sludge per second in total. A SCADA system designed redundantly ensures that the processes are monitored continuously and the plant is permanently available. More than 60 control cabinet fields control three redundant lines plus their power input whose monitoring is done fully automatic.

High operational safety

In order to minimise damage in the case of a short circuit due to component fatigue, an electric arc monitoring system monitors the entire control system and thus creates additional protection in the event of a fault. The operating personnel can access the SCADA system, which works with about 15.000 process variables and was programmed by Spangler, from the entire plant via WLAN access points. Spangler installed four PLC S7-1500F as main controls, 160 Profinet participants are connected. “The fail-safe PLC in connection with the PROFIsafe bus system allows a machine safety and thus an operational safety at the highest level,” Martin Müller, Spangler Sales Manager, underlines this issue.

Bauxit is an ore which is primarily used as raw material for the aluminium manufacturing. The ore can be found in low to strong concentration almost worldwide and is often mined in open-cast mines. Main producers are Australia and China; due to increasing demand, however, mining is now also economical in African countries. Bauxit is extracted from sand and soil by water erosion, filtering and drying.

Spangler was commissioned to realise the automation for two Bauxit mining plants from the company AKW Apparate und Verfahren GmbH located in Hirschau. The company which has been working together with Spangler for more than ten years required an individual control solution for the open-cast mining in Sierra Leone in West Africa.

Automation in open-cast mining

The project demanded two individual solutions as for one plant the feeding already existed and only the sifting technology was retrofitted. The second plant had to be redesigned completely.

Spangler carried out the entire engineering, the control system construction, the software creation, the supervision of the installation and the start-up. The heavy mechanics of the conveyor and pumping technology which must handle the massive sludge-water mixture required a lot of attention. Spangler manufactured three control cabinets for each of both plants with Siemens S7 PLC which are operated by Siemens TP 900 comfort touch panels. Battery-backed power supplies are installed for the bypass of voltage fluctuations. The plants operate with a voltage input of 400 ampere or rather 320 ampere.

Difficult journey

The open-cast mining is located in a sparsely inhabited area, six hours away from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. For the demanding transport by sea and via unpaved roads the Spangler team managed the complex seaworthy packing of the control cabinets. Two employees were on site as supervisors nearly four weeks where they planned and monitored the installation and start-up together with the plant operators. Thereby, special attention was given to the robust and reliable technology which should be operated stable due to the remote location of the mining area.

Since the foundation of Spangler in the year 1981 Helmut Graspointner has been part of the company and has managed Spangler for many years as managing director. At the end of 2019 he entered his well-deserved retirement as managing director.

A man of the very beginning

At the beginning he helped in the afternoons in the manufacturing of Spangler. Over the years his field of competence increased until he took over the manufacturing department as authorised representative. He stood out for his spirit of innovation. Hannelore Spangler-Schäfer honoured him with these words: „Helmut Graspointner always had the intuition for important trends and innovations and consistently focused on use for customers and efficiency, without losing sight of the employees.“

The company is in good hands

At the end of last year the time as managing director at Spangler ended. “I will leave with mixed feelings,“ Graspointner said. “I have always liked to work at Spangler, but one day the time has come to step back and pass on responsibility to the younger generation. We have an outstanding staff and a well-prepared management is at the start in order to lead a stable enterprise into the future.“

Honours at the end of the professional life

Before Helmut Graspointner entered his retirement he received some honours. During a secretly organised celebration he was awarded with the Roritzer Medal by the Chamber of Skilled Craft of Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate for his lifetime achievement. Martina Glas and Hubert Rackl as long-term employees, representative for all employees, presented him some special gifts, among them a Jura flagstone with the painted company premises.

Start of the time of retirement

The new retiree certainly will not be inactive in future. Besides more time for his main hobbies hunting and beekeeping he plans to travel to foreign countries. In the present and near future Helmut Graspointner is still involved in the new construction of Building 3 until its completion. In other words, entering retirement age does not mean inactivity