Global eCommerce Company Reduces Start-Up Costs and Time with Virtual Commissioning

CLIENT CHALLENGE

Alex Lovell, program manager at a global eCommerce company, was facing the pressures common to the launch of a complex new equipment line: tight delivery schedules, costly on-site commissioning runs, and PLC code issues that only surfaced once equipment was already on the floor.

Challenges they were facing included:

• Late-stage code defects discovered during physical commissioning
• Extended on-site commissioning timelines driving up labor costs
• Limited visibility into machine behavior before physical build completion
• Pressure to reduce design iteration time without sacrificing quality

AUTOINTEL SOLUTION

AutoIntel built a virtual commissioning environment that allowed the team to simulate, test, and validate the machine's PLC logic before physical commissioning ever began. By creating a simulation connected to the actual control code, engineers could run the machine virtually, catching faults, testing edge cases, and confirming HMI behavior in a risk-free environment.

Here's how it worked:

• AutoIntel developed a 3D simulation of the equipment using the OEM's CAD and electrical schematics, enabling realistic kinematic behavior and accurate I/O mapping.
• The virtual model connected to the actual PLC code, allowing engineers to exercise the full control logic, including cycle sequences, E-stops, and diagnostics — before a single wire was run on the physical machine.
• Code issues and logic errors were identified and resolved in the virtual environment, arriving at physical commissioning with a significantly cleaner codebase.

The results the client was looking for validated the approach:

• 20% reduction in physical commissioning time
• 40% reduction in physical commissioning costs
• 50% of code issues identified and resolved before physical commissioning