Case Study: Post Consumer Brands achieves lower HMI costs and reduced downtime with Rockwell Automation virtualization solutions

Post Consumer Brands Takes a Bite Out of HMI Costs With Virtualization

Post Consumer Brands, America’s third-largest cereal company, was struggling with aging HMI computer platforms at its Battle Creek campus. The legacy systems ran on unsupported Windows XP, failed frequently, and took about six hours to rebuild when a platform went down. Post Consumer Brands turned to Rockwell Automation products, including FactoryTalk View Site Edition HMI software, to modernize its operations.

Rockwell Automation implemented a virtualization-based HMI architecture using VMware-ready FactoryTalk View Site Edition and ThinManager software. The new approach is consolidating about 20 HMI servers to fewer than eight and replacing 175 desktop HMIs with thin clients. Early results include reduced downtime, avoided obsolescence risk, improved visibility through IP camera integration, and replacement times cut from about six hours to just minutes.

Post Consumer Brands

Bill Menser

Electrical Engineering Lead