Minnesota Diversified Industries (MDI) provides job opportunities and services for people with disabilities at its four locations. The company produces standard and custom plastic totes, trays, boxes, sheets, rolls, and tree wrap; provides contract production services; and offers medical device assembly.
When MDI’s Grand Rapids facility wanted to upgrade the older, outdated controls on its Line 1 extruding equipment to improve the line’s efficiency and reliability while reducing downtime, Barr stepped in to shoulder responsibility for the engineering, procurement, construction, and management of the project.
Barr designed the new and improved control systems for the existing extruding machinery on Line 1, procured new controls equipment, hired and managed an electrical contractor for demolition/retrofit installation and an extrusion expert to advise on control settings, provided oversight of startup and commissioning, and managed the entire project.
The new controls were installed on each of the four assemblies that comprise Line 1, including new PLC controls, new HMIs (human-machine interfaces), and updates to the WonderWare system for central oversight of all the new controls. In 2018, Barr upgraded MDI’s WonderWare system replacing a Windows 98 PC to a new Touchscreen PC running off Windows 10 for this line.
Through strategic partnerships, an intimate understanding of the facility, and significant knowledge of the process and industry, Barr provided a total, turnkey package to MDI for automatic control and improved efficiency and reliability of its Line 1 equipment.
Due to the success of the Line 1 project, the same approach was executed by Barr for the Line 2 follow-up expansion project, which was successfully completed in 2024.