As part of an upgrade to its food processing machines for the North American market, MASDAC adopted Rockwell Automation's On-Machine Solution. By leveraging ArmorKinetix and GuardLink technologies, the company reduced wiring requirements and improved maintainability. The solution also enables end users to quickly identify faults and respond more flexibly to production line modifications.
MASDAC supplies processing equipment for Japanese and Western confectionery products, as well as bakery applications, to customers both in Japan and overseas. In recent years, the food industry has faced growing demands not only for enhanced safety and labor-saving operations, but also for reliable and stable production systems. In overseas markets, compliance with safety standards, including UL certification and other regional requirements, has become increasingly important.
Against this backdrop, MASDAC's food processing machines for the North American market were due for a control system upgrade. The previous machine design relied on routing long cables from a centralized control panel to each servo motor. As a result, significant wiring was required, increasing engineering, assembly, and maintenance workloads.
In addition, North American end users expressed a desire to standardize control hardware and minimize the variety of spare parts needed for maintenance. Specifically, many customers preferred to continue using Rockwell Automation products that their maintenance teams were already familiar with, helping to reduce service and support burdens.
MASDAC therefore faced a key challenge: how to meet safety standards while reducing wiring complexity and ensuring future maintainability and scalability.
To address these challenges, MASDAC adopted Rockwell Automation's On-Machine™ solution. The On-Machine approach distributes control devices closer to the equipment they control, rather than housing them exclusively inside a centralized control panel. For this project, MASDAC implemented a combination of ArmorKinetix® distributed servo drives and the GuardLink® safety device network.
By deploying ArmorKinetix, servo drives could be installed near the motors themselves, minimizing the need for individual long-distance cables running from the control panel to each motor.
GuardLink further simplified the system by efficiently connecting safety devices such as emergency stop buttons and safety door switches. This reduced the complexity of safety wiring while also enabling rapid identification of fault locations whenever abnormal conditions occur.
Rather than simply replacing hardware, MASDAC re-evaluated its overall system architecture with a focus on improving maintainability for end users and supporting future machine expansions. Through the adoption of the On-Machine solution, the company created an environment that enables simpler, more flexible machine design.
The implementation of the On-Machine Solution significantly reduced long-distance wiring throughout the machine.
GuardLink's diagnostic visibility also delivered significant benefits. In the past, identifying the cause of a production line stoppage could take considerable time. Today, operators can quickly locate faults through LED indications and diagnostic information. This capability helps shorten recovery times and reduce downtime for end users.
Building on these results, MASDAC is also exploring additional automation technologies. Looking ahead, Minoru Wada, manager of the electrical control engineering department, believes there is strong potential for integrating technologies such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
Through this initiative, MASDAC achieved compliance with safety standards and significant wiring reduction while delivering food processing equipment with superior maintainability and scalability. The company has also established a foundation for improving engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance efficiency while enabling flexible future expansions.
As a company with expertise in both food machinery manufacturing and food production operations, MASDAC combines knowledge gained from machine development with practical insights from food manufacturing facilities. By continuing to embrace modern technologies, the company remains committed to helping food manufacturers improve productivity and create long-term value.
