Case Study: Bottled Water Company achieves EtherNet/IP modernization and reliable plant automation with Advantech EKI industrial switches

Bottled Water Company - Customer Case Study

Bottled Water Company needed to modernize its plant automation network: its headend relied on Modbus-only connectivity, but the plant owner wanted EtherNet/IP support across machine control areas and the facilities control center while preserving existing Modbus devices. They engaged an integrator who evaluated Advantech and recommended the EKI-5500/5600 industrial protocol switch family—specifically the 16‑port EKI-5526C-E1 at the master data server and EKI-5528 switches in the control rooms—along with Advantech HMIs and I/O modules.

Advantech deployed the EKI-5526C-E1 at the master node and EKI-5528 units in Machine Control 1, Machine Control 2 and Facilities Control, plus an APAX-5070 for Modbus/TCP and EDS/AOI integration with Rockwell FactoryTalk/RSLogix. The result is a single, scalable network that supports EtherNet/IP for hundreds of nodes while retaining Modbus compatibility, offers web-based management and improved diagnostics, and delivers high availability via redundant power and Advantech X-Ring sub-20 ms recovery—enabling greater reliability, easier configuration and room for future growth.