Category: Electrical & Automation

  • PLC Obsolescence: Planning a Migration Before the Platform Forces You

    PLC Obsolescence: Planning a Migration Before the Platform Forces You

    The Controller Still Works. That Is the Problem.

    A PLC installed twenty years ago is very likely still running the line it was bought for. Programmable controllers are extraordinarily reliable, and that reliability is exactly why obsolescence catches plants out. Nothing has gone wrong, so nothing is planned. Then a processor fails, the replacement is no longer made, the only spare on the market is second hand at several times the old price, and a migration that should have taken a planned week is attempted in a panic.

    Two of the most widely installed controller families in Australian food and beverage plants have reached that point. This guide sets out where they stand and how to plan a migration on your own terms.

    Where the Common Platforms Stand

    Siemens S7-300 and ET 200M. Siemens has been phasing out this family in stages. The phase designated P.M400 ran to September 2025. From 1 October 2025 the family moved to the stage designated P.M410, under which more than 267 assemblies became available as spare parts only, with significant increases in spare part prices. The migration path Siemens provides is from the S7-300 processor to the S7-1500, from ET 200M remote input and output stations to ET 200MP, and for analogue peripherals to ET 200SP.

    Allen-Bradley SLC 500. Rockwell Automation announced a discontinued date of 31 March 2024 for all remaining SLC 500 controllers. The migration path is to the CompactLogix and ControlLogix families, and support is available for the legacy networks used with SLC 500 systems, including DH+, DH485 and Remote I/O, so that a transition can be phased.

    Both platforms were the standard choice for packaged machinery for many years. If your plant has fillers, labellers, palletisers or process skids that have been in service for a decade or more, it may well have one or both.

    What Obsolete Actually Means

    Manufacturers do not switch products off overnight. A platform typically moves from active sale, to a mature stage where it is still sold but not recommended for new designs, to spare parts only, and finally to no support. The stages are announced years ahead.

    The risk changes at each one. While a product is on active sale a failure is an inconvenience. At the spare parts only stage, prices rise and lead times become unpredictable. After support ends, you depend on your own stock, on the second hand market and on the shrinking number of people who know the platform.

    The hardware is only part of it. Programming software for old platforms may not run on current operating systems. The engineers who wrote and understand the code retire. HMIs, drives and networks connected to the controller age at the same time.

    Five Risks of Waiting

    A long outage. If a processor fails with no spare, the line is down until one is found.

    Rising costs. Spare part prices increase as supply shrinks.

    Questionable parts. Second hand and grey market components come with no history and no warranty.

    Lost knowledge. The longer a system runs untouched, the fewer people understand it and the less likely its documentation matches what is installed.

    No choice of timing. A forced migration happens when the hardware fails, not when production can spare the line.

    Start With an Inventory

    You cannot plan for what you have not listed. For every controller on site, record the platform and model, the firmware version, the input and output modules, the networks it uses, the HMI and drives connected to it, the software and version needed to program it, where the current program backup is and when it was last verified, and what spares you hold.

    Plants are routinely surprised by this exercise. It turns up controllers nobody knew were there, backups that do not match the running program and software licences that have lapsed.

    Rank by Risk

    Not everything needs migrating at once. Score each controller on two questions: how likely is a failure to be unrecoverable, and how much does that machine matter?

    A controller on the main filler with no spare processor and no verified backup goes to the top of the list. A controller on a secondary conveyor with two spares on the shelf can wait. The ranking gives you a migration sequence and a case for the budget.

    Buy Time Sensibly

    For controllers that are not first in line, a bridging strategy reduces risk while the migration is planned. Buy critical spares now, from the manufacturer, while they are still supplied. Take and verify a backup of every program, and store copies off site. Keep a computer with the programming software in working order. Hardware removed in the first migrations can be kept as spares for the systems still waiting.

    Bridging is a way to control the timetable. It is not a substitute for migrating.

    Choosing a Migration Approach

    Phased, input and output first or processor first. Both major manufacturers offer ways to replace part of a system while keeping the rest. A new processor can be connected to existing input and output racks through adaptors or legacy networks, or the reverse. This spreads cost and limits each outage, at the price of running a hybrid system for a period.

    Like for like conversion. The program is converted to the new platform using the manufacturer’s tools and then corrected by hand. It is the fastest route and it preserves familiar behaviour. It also carries forward twenty years of patches and workarounds, and converted code is often hard to read.

    Rewrite. The control is written afresh on the new platform to current standards. It takes longer and needs a clear description of what the machine is supposed to do. The result is cleaner, better documented and makes use of what the new hardware can do, such as better diagnostics.

    The right choice depends on the machine. A simple conveyor system converts well. A complex filler with years of accumulated modifications is often better rewritten.

    What Else Changes

    A controller migration rarely stays confined to the controller. Old HMIs often cannot communicate with a new processor and need replacing. Networks may need to move to industrial Ethernet. Drives and instruments on legacy networks need gateways or replacement. Safety functions need to be assessed, and a migration is a natural moment to bring machine safety up to current expectations.

    Scope these at the start. The projects that overrun are the ones that discovered the HMI problem during commissioning.

    Testing and Cutover

    The outage is the expensive part, so everything possible is done before it. The new program is tested against a simulation of the machine. The new panel or backplane is assembled and tested in the workshop. Every input and output is mapped and checked against the drawings. A cutover plan sets out each step, who does it and how long it takes.

    Cutover is scheduled into a planned shutdown. Old hardware is removed in a way that allows it to be reinstated if something goes badly wrong. Each input and output is checked at the device. The machine is run dry, then with water or empty containers, then with product. Someone who knows the new system stays on site through the first production shifts.

    Afterwards the drawings are updated, the program is backed up, the maintenance team is trained and the spares list is rewritten.

    Where BevTech Fits

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. We work on both Allen Bradley and Siemens platforms, and we have delivered new control systems on the current Siemens generation, including an S7-1500 controlling glycol refrigeration for beer tank temperatures and an S7-1200 running a hot water rinse process on a can seamer. Our automation engineers, industrial electricians and TUV certified functional safety engineers plan and carry out migrations together, with electrical drawings produced in house and cutovers scheduled into shutdowns.

    If you have controllers on your site that are no longer made, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact and we can start with the inventory.

    Product lifecycle dates in this article are those published by the manufacturers, current as at October 2026. Confirm the status of your specific part numbers with the manufacturer or its distributor.

  • Variable Speed Drives in Food and Beverage Plants: Where They Pay and Where They Bite

    Variable Speed Drives in Food and Beverage Plants: Where They Pay and Where They Bite

    The Most Useful Box in the Switchroom, and the Most Misunderstood

    Variable speed drives have transformed production plants. A conveyor that once ran at one speed now follows the filler ahead of it. A pump that once ran flat out against a throttled valve now delivers exactly what the process needs. Drives save energy, reduce mechanical wear and give control that fixed speed motors cannot.

    They also bring problems that fixed speed motors never had, and plants that install them without understanding those problems pay for it in failed bearings, tripped capacitor banks and unexplained faults. This guide covers where variable speed drives earn their keep in a food or beverage plant and where they bite.

    What a Drive Does

    A variable speed drive, also called a variable frequency drive or VSD, sits between the supply and a motor. It converts the incoming supply to direct current and then builds a new output whose frequency and voltage it controls. Since the speed of an induction motor follows the frequency it is fed, the drive controls speed.

    That gives three things at once: adjustable speed, controlled acceleration and deceleration, and a low starting current. A drive can bring a loaded motor up to speed smoothly while drawing no more than about its normal running current from the supply.

    Where They Pay: The Affinity Laws

    The strongest case for a drive is on centrifugal pumps and fans, and the reason is a set of relationships known as the affinity laws. For these loads, flow is proportional to speed, pressure is proportional to the square of speed and power is proportional to the cube of speed.

    The cube is what matters. Slow a fan or pump to 80 per cent of full speed and it delivers 80 per cent of the flow, but the power required falls to about 51 per cent. At 90 per cent speed, power is about 73 per cent.

    Many pumps and fans are sized for a peak that rarely occurs and are then throttled with a valve or damper for the rest of the time. Throttling wastes the energy the motor has already consumed. A drive achieves the same reduced flow by slowing the motor, and the saving is often large.

    Good candidates in a beverage plant include cooling tower and condenser fans, glycol and chilled water circulation pumps, CIP supply pumps, ventilation and extraction fans, and process pumps whose demand varies through the day.

    Where They Pay: Control

    On conveyors and many process machines the load is not centrifugal, the cube law does not apply and the energy saving is modest. The value of the drive is control.

    Speeds can be matched along a line so that product neither gaps nor backs up. Starts and stops are gentle, so containers do not topple and belts and chains last longer. A recipe can set speeds for each product at changeover. Mixers and agitators can run at the speed the product needs and start against a heavy load.

    Where They Do Not Pay

    A drive is not free to run. It has losses of its own, typically a few per cent of the power passing through it. A motor that runs at full speed and full load all the time will use slightly more energy with a drive than without one. If the only requirement is a gentle start, a soft starter does that job for less money and with no running losses once it is bypassed.

    The test is simple. Does the speed need to change, or would the process benefit if it could? If not, a drive is probably the wrong tool.

    Where They Bite: Harmonics

    Drives draw current from the supply in pulses and not as a smooth wave, which creates harmonic currents. In a plant with a few small drives this is unnoticeable. As the proportion of load on drives grows, the distortion grows with it.

    The symptoms are overheated neutrals and transformers, nuisance tripping and interference with sensitive equipment. The most expensive symptom involves power factor correction. Capacitor banks can resonate with the supply at a harmonic frequency, amplifying the distortion and destroying the capacitors. Any site with both drives and correction equipment should have harmonics measured, and correction equipment should be of the detuned type, with reactors fitted, where the measurements call for it.

    Harmonics can be reduced at the drive with line reactors or filters, and by specifying low harmonic drives for large installations.

    Where They Bite: Bearing Currents

    The fast switching inside a drive induces a voltage on the motor shaft. That voltage can discharge through the bearings, and each discharge leaves a microscopic pit in the bearing race. Over months the pitting forms a washboard pattern, the bearing becomes noisy and then fails.

    This is a common cause of repeated bearing failures on motors retrofitted with drives, and it is often misdiagnosed as a lubrication or alignment problem. The remedies are shaft grounding rings, insulated bearings on larger motors, correct earthing and proper motor cable. If a motor on a drive is on its second or third set of bearings, look here.

    Where They Bite: Cable Length and Motor Insulation

    The output of a drive is a series of very fast voltage pulses. On a long cable run those pulses reflect at the motor terminals, and the peaks can reach well above the nominal voltage. Older motors, and motors not designed for drive duty, can suffer insulation breakdown as a result.

    The risk rises with cable length. Where a drive is in a switchroom and its motor is a long way down the plant, check the drive manufacturer’s limits and fit an output reactor or filter where they are exceeded. When retrofitting a drive to an old motor, check that the motor is suitable.

    Where They Bite: Heat, Water and Dust

    Drives are electronic equipment and heat shortens their life. They need clean, cool air. In a food plant that is a real constraint. A drive mounted on a machine in a washdown area needs an enclosure rated for it, and an enclosure tight enough to keep water out also keeps heat in. Blocked filters and failed cooling fans are behind a large share of drive failures. Drive filters and fans belong on the maintenance schedule.

    Other Things to Get Right

    Cabling and earthing. Drives generate electrical noise. Screened motor cable, terminated correctly at both ends, and separation from signal cables prevent interference with sensors and instruments.

    Motor cooling at low speed. A standard motor is cooled by a fan on its own shaft. Run slowly under load for long periods, it may overheat. Some applications need a separately driven cooling fan.

    Parameters. A drive has dozens or hundreds of settings. Back them up. A replacement drive fitted at three in the morning with factory defaults will not run the machine.

    Safety functions. Many drives offer safe torque off, which is useful in a properly designed safety system. It is a control function and not electrical isolation. Maintenance still requires the supply to be isolated and locked.

    Bypass. For critical equipment such as refrigeration, consider whether the motor needs a way to run if the drive fails.

    A Note on Motor Efficiency Rules

    Australia sets minimum energy performance standards for three phase electric motors, and those requirements have been under review. If you are buying motors as part of a drive project, confirm the requirements in force at the time of purchase instead of relying on older guidance.

    Checklist Before You Fit a Drive

    Will the speed actually vary? Is the load centrifugal, where the saving is large, or constant torque, where the benefit is control? Is the motor suitable for drive duty? How long is the cable run? Where will the drive sit, and how will it be kept cool and dry? What harmonics are already on site, and is there power factor correction? How will it be controlled, and who will hold the parameter backup? Has the safety design been considered?

    Where BevTech Fits

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians install, commission and fault find variable speed drives on conveyors, pumps, fans and refrigeration plant, and our automation engineers integrate them with Allen Bradley and Siemens control systems, as on a Siemens S7-1500 project controlling glycol refrigeration for beer tank temperatures. Because our mechanical trades and machine shop are in the same business, a bearing problem on a driven motor gets looked at from both sides.

    If you are considering drives for a pump or fan system, or have drives that keep causing trouble, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

    The figures in this article are illustrative. Actual savings depend on the system and how it is operated, so have the application assessed before committing to a project.

  • When to Upgrade an Industrial Switchboard: A Guide for Plant Managers

    When to Upgrade an Industrial Switchboard: A Guide for Plant Managers

    The Asset Nobody Thinks About Until It Fails

    A main switchboard can sit in a plant room for thirty years doing its job without attention. Production equipment around it is replaced two or three times. Loads are added. The original drawings go missing. Then one day a breaker fails and there is no replacement, or an inspection finds heat damage on a busbar, or a new machine cannot be connected because there is nowhere to put it.

    A switchboard upgrade is a significant project, and it is far better planned than forced. This guide sets out the signs that an industrial switchboard is due for attention, the standard that now applies to new boards, the options short of full replacement and how to plan the work around production.

    Eight Signs a Switchboard Needs Attention

    Heat. Discolouration, a hot smell, or hot spots found by thermal imaging. Heat means resistance, and resistance means a connection or component that is failing.

    Nuisance tripping. Breakers that trip without an obvious fault are often overloaded, worn or reacting to harmonics.

    No spare capacity. Every way is used, and new circuits are being squeezed in or doubled up.

    Obsolete components. Breakers and parts that are no longer manufactured, with replacements available only second hand.

    Fault level exceeded. A supply upgrade or a new transformer has raised the fault current beyond what the board was built to withstand.

    Corrosion and contamination. Moisture, dust and cleaning chemicals attacking metalwork and insulation, which is common in food and beverage plants.

    No documentation. No current drawings, no test records and labels that do not match what is connected.

    Unsafe to work on. Exposed live parts when a door is opened, no segregation between sections, and no way to isolate one part without shutting down the whole board.

    Any one of these is worth an inspection. Several together mean the board is a risk to production and to people.

    The Standard Changed

    Low voltage switchboards in Australia are now built to the AS/NZS 61439 series, which replaced AS/NZS 3439. The older standard had been in place since 2002 and was superseded on 24 May 2021. In Queensland the transition period during which a board could be built to either standard ended on 25 November 2022.

    The series has several parts. AS/NZS 61439.1 sets the general rules and AS/NZS 61439.2 covers power switchgear and controlgear assemblies, which is the part relevant to most industrial switchboards.

    The important change is in how a board is proven. The old distinction between type tested and partially type tested assemblies has gone. In its place is design verification, in which the manufacturer must demonstrate compliance against 13 constructional and performance requirements, covering matters such as temperature rise, short circuit withstand and clearances. Verification of the forms of internal separation is mandatory.

    Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office has issued guidance on the standard as it applies to switchboards with a connected load exceeding 125 amps or a fault level of 10 kA or greater, which takes in most industrial main and distribution boards.

    What That Means for an Existing Board

    A switchboard that complied when it was built does not become unlawful because the standard changed. The new standard matters in three situations. When you buy a new board, it must be built and verified to AS/NZS 61439, and you should ask for the design verification evidence. When you modify an existing board, the modification has to be safe and should not undermine the basis on which the board was originally verified. And when you weigh up repair against replacement, the old board’s inability to meet current expectations for segregation and arc fault protection is a legitimate factor.

    A common mistake is to add circuits to an old board without anyone checking the busbar rating, the fault rating or the temperature rise. Each addition is small. Together they produce a board loaded well beyond its design.

    Three Options

    Repair and maintain. If the board is structurally sound and parts are available, cleaning, retightening, replacing worn components and restoring labels and drawings may buy many more years. This suits a board that is old but not obsolete.

    Retrofit. The enclosure and busbars are kept and the switchgear is replaced, often with modern breakers on adaptor kits. This can restore protection performance and parts availability at lower cost and with a shorter outage than replacement. It does not fix an undersized busbar or an inadequate fault rating.

    Replace. A new board built to the current standard, sized for the load you have and the load you expect. This is the answer where capacity, fault rating, condition or safety cannot be recovered any other way.

    The decision usually turns on four questions. Is the fault rating adequate for the supply? Is there capacity for the next ten years? Can parts still be bought new? Can it be worked on safely?

    Planning a Replacement

    A switchboard replacement is mostly a planning exercise. The installation itself may take a weekend. The preparation takes months.

    Load study. Measure what the board actually supplies, using logged data over a representative period, and allow for known growth.

    Fault level. Establish the prospective fault current from the supply so the new board is rated correctly.

    Specification. Form of internal separation, spare capacity, metering, provision for power factor correction, arc fault containment, enclosure rating for the environment and the protection philosophy.

    Lead time. Custom switchboards take time to design, build and verify. Order early.

    Changeover method. Decide whether the new board goes in the same position, which means a full outage, or alongside the old one so circuits can be transferred in stages.

    Temporary supply. Identify what cannot be without power during the changeover, such as refrigeration and tank cooling, and arrange generators or temporary feeds.

    Shutdown window. Fit the changeover into a planned shutdown and agree the sequence with production.

    Testing and handover. Verification testing, a certificate of testing and compliance, updated single line diagrams and circuit schedules, and protection settings recorded.

    What It Costs Not to Plan

    The expensive version of this project is the one that follows a failure. An emergency replacement means days or weeks of lost production waiting for a board to be built, temporary supplies hired at short notice, a compromised specification because there is no time to get it right and, often, a like for like replacement that carries the old board’s limitations into the next thirty years.

    A condition assessment costs a small fraction of that and gives you the information to decide in your own time.

    Where to Start

    Have the board inspected by an industrial electrician, with thermal imaging under load. Find or recreate the single line diagram. Establish the fault level and compare it with the board’s rating. List the components that are obsolete. Measure the load. With those five things in hand, the choice between repair, retrofit and replacement usually becomes clear.

    Where BevTech Fits

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians carry out condition audits of site electrical equipment, switchboard modifications and plant extensions to AS/NZS 3000, and we provide full electrical design drawings for new work and as-built updates for existing installations. We plan and crew electrical work for annual shutdowns, and because we work in production plants every day we understand what has to stay running while the power is off.

    If you have a switchboard that worries you, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact and we can arrange an inspection.

    This article is a general guide current as at October 2026. Have a licensed electrician assess your own installation, and confirm current requirements with the Electrical Safety Office.

  • Power Factor Correction: Cutting Demand Charges in a Queensland Plant

    Power Factor Correction: Cutting Demand Charges in a Queensland Plant

    Paying for Power You Do Not Use

    Most plant managers watch their electricity consumption. Fewer look closely at how their site draws that power, and for larger Queensland businesses that is where a good part of the network bill is decided. A plant with poor power factor pays demand charges for capacity that does no useful work. Correcting it is one of the few energy projects that reduces cost without changing anything about how the plant operates.

    This guide explains what power factor is, how Queensland’s network tariffs turn it into money, how correction works and the traps to avoid in a plant full of variable speed drives.

    Power Factor in Plain Terms

    Three quantities describe the power a site draws.

    Real power, measured in kilowatts or kW, does the work: turning motors, heating and lighting.

    Reactive power, measured in kVAr, sustains the magnetic fields in motors and transformers. It does no useful work, but the network still has to carry it.

    Apparent power, measured in kVA, is the combination of the two, and it is what the supply cables and transformers actually have to deliver.

    Power factor is real power divided by apparent power. A power factor of 1.0 means every kVA supplied is doing work. A power factor of 0.75 means a quarter of the capacity being supplied is carrying reactive power around the system.

    Why Plants Have Poor Power Factor

    Induction motors are the main cause, and factories are full of them. A motor draws reactive power to magnetise itself whether it is loaded or not, so motors that are oversized or running lightly loaded have particularly poor power factor. Transformers, older lighting and welding equipment add to it.

    A typical uncorrected manufacturing site sits somewhere between 0.7 and 0.85. That is normal, and it is expensive.

    How Queensland Tariffs Turn It Into Money

    Large business customers in Queensland have been moving to network tariffs based on kVA since 1 July 2021. Under these tariffs demand is measured in kVA and not in kW, which means poor power factor shows up directly in the demand charge.

    In South East Queensland the default tariff for large businesses is Energex’s Large Time of Use Demand and Energy tariff, network tariff code 7200. Demand is measured as the single highest 30 minute kVA demand within the charging window each month, and charged per kVA.

    The time windows matter. The peak window is 5pm to 8pm on weekdays. The shoulder window is 1pm to 5pm and 8pm to 11am on weekdays, and 1pm to 11am on weekends. Off peak is 11am to 1pm every day.

    Two features of this structure are worth understanding. First, a single half hour sets the demand charge for the whole month. One coincidence of large motors starting can cost as much as a month of steady running. Second, Queensland demand resets every month, unlike networks that carry a peak forward for a year, so an improvement made this month shows on the next bill.

    A Worked Example

    Take a plant whose real load in its peak half hour is 375 kW.

    At a power factor of 0.75, apparent power is 375 divided by 0.75, which is 500 kVA. That is what the demand charge is calculated on.

    Correct the power factor to 0.98 and the same 375 kW requires 375 divided by 0.98, which is 383 kVA.

    The difference is 117 kVA, a reduction of about 23 per cent in billed demand, with no change to production, hours or output. Multiply that by the per kVA rate on your own bill and by twelve months to see what it is worth to your site.

    This article deliberately quotes no dollar rate. Network prices are published in the distributor’s price list, change every July and are passed through by retailers in different ways. Use your own invoices.

    How Correction Works

    Capacitors supply reactive power locally, so the motors draw it from the capacitor bank and not from the network. The plant’s kW stays the same and its kVA falls.

    Central automatic correction. A capacitor bank at the main switchboard, switched in steps by a controller that follows the load. This is the usual solution for a plant with varying load.

    Group correction. Smaller banks at distribution boards or motor control centres. This also frees capacity in the cables between the main switchboard and the load.

    Fixed correction at a motor. A capacitor connected with one large, steadily running motor.

    The target is usually around 0.95 to 0.98. Chasing 1.0 costs more than it returns, and over correction creates problems of its own. Too much capacitance at light load pushes the power factor leading, which can raise voltage and may itself increase kVA.

    The Harmonics Trap

    This is where correction projects go wrong in modern plants. Variable speed drives, switch mode power supplies and LED lighting draw current in a distorted pattern and produce harmonics. Capacitors and the inductance of the supply system form a circuit that can resonate at a harmonic frequency. When that happens, harmonic currents are amplified, capacitors overheat and fail, fuses blow and drives trip.

    The solution is detuned correction. Reactors are fitted in series with the capacitors so that the bank cannot resonate at the harmonics present on the site. It costs more than a plain capacitor bank and it is the difference between a system that lasts and one that fails within a year or two.

    No correction equipment should be specified for a plant with a significant drive population until harmonics have been measured.

    Drives Change the Picture

    A motor fed through a variable speed drive presents a good power factor to the supply at the fundamental frequency, because the drive supplies the motor’s reactive power from its own circuitry. As a plant adds drives, its need for correction on those motors falls while its harmonic levels rise. A correction system sized years ago for a plant of direct on line motors may now be oversized, mistuned or both.

    Demand Is Also About Timing

    Power factor reduces the kVA of whatever load is running. The other lever is how much is running at once. Because one half hour sets the monthly charge, it is worth looking at what happens in your peak window. Staggering the start of large motors, shifting a batch process or a CIP heating cycle away from the 5pm to 8pm peak, and avoiding simultaneous restarts after a stoppage can all trim the peak at no capital cost.

    Capacitor Banks Need Maintenance

    Correction equipment is often installed and forgotten. Capacitors lose capacity with age and heat, fuses fail and contactors wear, and a bank can quietly drop to half its rating while the plant goes on paying for demand it thought it had removed. Check the power factor on the bill, inspect the bank annually and include it in thermal imaging surveys.

    Steps to a Decision

    Get twelve months of interval data from your retailer or meter provider. Identify your tariff and how demand is measured. Find your monthly peak kVA and the power factor at the time of each peak. Have power quality measured at the main switchboard, including harmonics. Size the correction and choose detuned equipment where harmonics require it. Compare the installed cost with the annual demand saving. For a plant at 0.75 to 0.8 on a kVA tariff, payback is often short, but it should be calculated and not assumed.

    Where BevTech Fits

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians carry out electrical condition audits, switchboard modifications and installations to AS/NZS 3000, and install and commission variable speed drives on Allen Bradley and Siemens controlled lines. We can inspect and maintain existing correction equipment as part of a planned maintenance visit, and help you establish what your site is actually drawing before you spend money on new equipment.

    If your demand charges look high for what your plant produces, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

    This article is a general guide current as at October 2026. Tariff structures and windows are set by the distributor and can change, so confirm the details that apply to your connection with your retailer.

  • Arc Flash in Food and Beverage Plants: What Queensland Manufacturers Need to Know

    Arc Flash in Food and Beverage Plants: What Queensland Manufacturers Need to Know

    The Electrical Hazard That Does Not Need Contact

    Most people think of electrical danger as electric shock: touch something live and current passes through you. Arc flash is different, and in an industrial plant it can be worse. An arc flash is an explosive release of energy when current jumps through the air between conductors or from a conductor to earth. It produces intense heat, a blast of pressure, molten metal and blinding light, and it can cause severe burns to someone standing in front of a switchboard who has touched nothing.

    This guide explains how arc flash arises in food and beverage plants, what the current Australian standards and Queensland rules say, and how to reduce the risk in ways that go well beyond protective clothing.

    What Causes an Arc Flash

    An arc starts when the insulation or air gap between energised parts breaks down. Common triggers include a dropped tool or loose hardware bridging conductors, a failed component, contamination and moisture, corrosion, loose connections that overheat, vermin, and switching or racking equipment that is worn or faulty.

    Three things decide how severe the event is. The first is the fault current available at that point in the system. The second is how long the protection takes to clear the fault. The third is how far away the person is. The energy a person receives rises with fault current and with clearing time, and falls quickly with distance.

    The middle factor surprises people. A slow protective device on a moderate fault can produce more energy than a fast one on a larger fault. Much of the engineering work on arc flash is about clearing time.

    Where the Risk Sits in a Food or Beverage Plant

    The highest energy is generally found closest to the supply: main switchboards, the incoming sections of motor control centres and large distribution boards. Risk rises during particular tasks, including switching and racking circuit breakers, removing and fitting covers, fault finding on energised equipment and working near exposed busbars.

    Food and beverage sites add conditions of their own. Washdown and humidity find their way into enclosures. Sugar, flour and product dust settle on insulation. Caustic and acid cleaning chemicals attack metalwork. Many plants have grown in stages, with switchboards extended and loaded beyond what the original design allowed and protection settings that nobody has reviewed since.

    The Standards That Apply

    AS/NZS 4836:2023 is the current standard for safe working on or near low voltage and extra low voltage electrical installations and equipment. It supersedes the 2011 edition, which is still quoted in many site procedures. The 2023 edition expanded its guidance on personal protective equipment and added a PPE selection table, Table 11.2. It also provides that an arc fault study may supersede the guidance in that table, which means a site that has calculated its actual incident energy can base its PPE on those results.

    AS/NZS 3000:2018, the Wiring Rules, governs the installation itself.

    ENA NENS 09-2014 is the national guideline for the selection, use and maintenance of personal protective equipment for electrical arc hazards.

    IEEE 1584-2018 is the internationally used method for calculating arc flash incident energy and is the basis of most arc flash studies.

    If your site procedures refer to AS/NZS 4836:2011, they are out of date and should be reviewed against the current edition.

    What Queensland Law Says About Live Work

    The most effective arc flash control is to work on equipment that is not energised, and Queensland’s rules start from that position. Under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 and the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026, electrical work on or near energised electrical equipment is generally prohibited. Near means within 3 metres of an exposed energised part.

    There are four circumstances in which energised work is permitted: where it is necessary in the interests of health and safety, where the equipment must be energised for the work to be carried out properly, where testing is needed to determine whether the equipment is energised, and where there is no reasonable alternative.

    Production pressure is not on that list. A line that needs to keep running does not make live work lawful.

    Where energised work is permitted, conditions apply. They include a risk assessment, a safe work method statement, testing by a competent person, control of the work area, appropriate protective equipment, tools and test instruments, consultation with the person who manages or controls the workplace, and a safety observer unless the work is testing only and the risk assessment shows no serious risk.

    The regulation was restructured in 2026 and its section numbers changed, although the Electrical Safety Office has said the obligations themselves did not. Site documents that quote sections of the 2013 regulation need updating.

    What an Arc Flash Study Involves

    An arc flash study replaces assumptions with numbers. It has five stages.

    Data collection. The single line diagram is verified against the site, and details are gathered for the supply, transformers, cables and every protective device with its settings.

    Fault level calculation. The prospective fault current is calculated at each switchboard.

    Protection review. The time each protective device would take to clear an arcing fault is determined, and coordination between devices is checked.

    Incident energy calculation. The energy a person would receive at a working distance is calculated for each location, along with the boundary inside which protection is needed.

    Labels and recommendations. Each switchboard is labelled with its incident energy and PPE requirement, and the report recommends changes that would reduce the energy.

    The last stage is the most valuable. A good study does not only tell you what to wear. It tells you which protection settings to change so that you need to wear less.

    Reducing the Risk, in Order of Effectiveness

    Eliminate. De-energise before work. Plan maintenance so that switchboard work is done in shutdowns with the supply isolated.

    Reduce the energy by design. Review protection settings so faults clear faster. Fit maintenance mode switches that temporarily speed up protection while people are working. Consider arc flash detection relays that sense light and trip in milliseconds. Specify arc fault contained switchgear for new and replacement boards.

    Increase the distance. Remote switching and remote racking move the person out of the blast zone entirely.

    Maintain the equipment. Thermal imaging, cleaning, checking terminations and keeping enclosures sealed against moisture and dust remove many of the triggers.

    Administer. Labels, procedures, training, permits and exclusion zones.

    Protect the person. Arc rated clothing, face protection and gloves selected for the incident energy at that location. PPE is the last line and it limits injury. It does not prevent the event.

    Questions to Ask About Your Own Site

    Do we have a current single line diagram? Has the fault level at our main switchboards been calculated since the last supply upgrade? When were protection settings last reviewed? Are our switchboards labelled with arc flash information? Do our procedures cite the 2023 edition of AS/NZS 4836 and the 2026 regulation? How often is live work done here, and under which of the four exceptions? Is the PPE on site matched to calculated energy, or chosen by habit?

    If several of those cannot be answered, the plant does not know its arc flash risk, and the place to start is the single line diagram.

    Where BevTech Fits

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians carry out condition audits of site electrical systems, switchboard modifications and electrical installations to AS/NZS 3000, and we produce the electrical drawings that any study depends on. We plan switchboard work into shutdowns so that it is done with the supply isolated, and we provide 24/7 breakdown support across Brisbane and South East Queensland.

    If your site has no current single line diagram or you are unsure what state your switchboards are in, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

    This article is a general guide current as at October 2026 and is not a substitute for a site specific assessment. Confirm the requirements for energised work with the Electrical Safety Office.

  • Industrial Electrical Services Explained: From Installation to Shutdown Support

    Industrial Electrical Services Explained: From Installation to Shutdown Support

    More Than Fixing What Is Broken

    Ask ten plant managers what industrial electrical services means and most will describe breakdown repairs. That is the visible part. Behind it sits a range of work that decides how often breakdowns happen in the first place, how long they last and whether the plant can prove it is safe and compliant.

    This guide walks through the eight services that make up industrial electrical work in a manufacturing plant, what each one involves, when you need it and what a good result looks like. It is written for people who buy these services and want to buy them well.

    1. Electrical Installations

    Installation covers new power supplies for machines, cable trays and cable systems, switchboard modifications and extensions to the plant. All of it is carried out to the Wiring Rules, AS/NZS 3000.

    In a production environment the standard is only the starting point. Cable routes have to stay clear of forklift paths and washdown zones. Enclosures need the right rating for the area they sit in. Glands and conduit entries must not create places where product or water can collect. A good installation looks as though it was designed with the cleaning crew in mind, because it was.

    Ask for: a defined scope, a certificate of testing and compliance on completion, and drawings that show what was installed.

    2. Machine Installation and Commissioning

    New and relocated machines arrive with a manual and a connection point. Turning that into a working part of the line means power, control wiring, network connections, safety circuits and integration with the equipment either side.

    Commissioning is where the time goes. Inputs and outputs are checked one at a time, motors are proved for direction, interlocks are tested and the machine is run in stages until it handles product at rate. Imported machines add their own complications, including different supply voltages and frequencies and safety designs that need checking against Australian requirements.

    Ask for: a commissioning plan, input and output check sheets, and a clear handover point where the machine becomes production’s responsibility.

    3. Production Fault Finding and Repairs

    This is the service everyone knows. A line stops, and someone has to work out why and get it going again. The skill is in the method: reading the diagnostics, narrowing the fault logically and proving the cause before replacing anything.

    The difference between a repair and a reset matters here. A reset gets the line running. A repair removes the reason it stopped. Recurring faults that have been reset twenty times are among the most expensive problems in manufacturing.

    Ask for: a short written note after each attendance stating what was found, what was done and whether the root cause is fixed.

    4. Machine Safety System Upgrades

    Guard interlocks, light curtains, safety relays, safety PLCs and emergency stop circuits protect people from machinery. Older lines often have safety systems that were acceptable when installed and have since been modified, bypassed or simply outgrown.

    An upgrade starts with a risk assessment, moves to a design with a defined performance target and ends with validation, which is documented proof that each safety function does what it is supposed to. The electrical installation is only the middle step. Without the assessment and the validation, new safety hardware gives a false sense of security.

    Ask for: the risk assessment, the safety design and signed validation records. BevTech’s functional safety engineers are TUV certified, which is the kind of credential to look for.

    5. Automation and Electrical Integration

    Modern production lines are run by PLCs, operated through HMIs and connected over industrial networks. Integration work joins machines from different suppliers into one line that starts, stops and recovers in an orderly way.

    Typical jobs include adding a machine to an existing line, linking conveyors so that product does not pile up at a stopped filler, bringing production data to a screen in the office and replacing an obsolete controller. BevTech has delivered projects of this kind using a Siemens S7-1500 to control glycol refrigeration for beer tank temperatures, and a Siemens S7-1200 to run a hot water rinse process on a can seamer.

    Ask for: a functional description you can read, commented code, and backups handed to you and not held only by the supplier.

    6. Electrical Design and Drafting

    Drawings are the most undervalued electrical service. Every hour spent fault finding without accurate schematics is partly wasted, and every modification made without updating them makes the next job slower.

    Design work covers single line diagrams, schematics, panel layouts, cable schedules and input and output lists for new work. As-built drafting brings existing drawings back into line with what is actually in the panel. For plants that have lost their drawings entirely, reverse engineering one machine at a time is slow and worth it.

    Ask for: native drawing files as well as PDFs, a revision history, and a copy kept in the panel.

    7. Electrical Maintenance and Audits

    Planned electrical maintenance finds problems while they are still cheap. It includes the inspections and tests the regulations require, such as testing and tagging of portable equipment and periodic testing of safety switches, together with work that is simply good practice: thermal imaging of switchboards, checking terminations, cleaning drive filters and testing motor insulation.

    An electrical audit is the natural starting point. It is a condition survey of the site’s electrical equipment that produces a ranked list of what needs attention and when. It turns a vague worry about ageing equipment into a plan and a budget.

    Ask for: a report with photographs and priorities, not a list of everything that is less than perfect.

    8. Shutdown Support

    Annual shutdowns compress months of work into days. The electrical scope typically includes switchboard maintenance that needs the power off, replacement of worn components, upgrades that could not be done during production and the installation of new equipment.

    Success depends on planning. Parts are ordered weeks ahead, isolations are agreed, the sequence is set so that trades do not block each other, and time is left at the end for recommissioning. The most common failure is a list that is too long for the window.

    Ask for: involvement in planning well before the shutdown, and a named person running the electrical work during it.

    How the Services Fit Together

    These are not eight separate purchases. An audit feeds the maintenance plan. Maintenance findings feed the shutdown list. Fault finding reveals where drawings are missing and where safety systems have been altered. Projects create the documentation that makes the next breakdown shorter.

    Plants that buy each service from a different provider lose those connections. The knowledge gained on one job is not available on the next. Plants that work with one provider across the range get a team that understands the site, and that understanding is where most of the value lies.

    How Work Is Usually Scoped

    Breakdowns and small repairs are normally charged by the hour, with after hours rates for nights and weekends. Defined jobs such as installations, upgrades and drafting are quoted as a fixed scope. Ongoing arrangements such as shift cover and maintenance are agreed as a regular commitment. When comparing providers, compare what is included: travel, drawings, certificates, software backups and reporting are where quotes differ most.

    Industrial Electrical Services From BevTech

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. We provide every service described here across Brisbane and South East Queensland, with 24/7 shift coverage and breakdown support. Our electricians work on Allen Bradley and Siemens platforms alongside our automation engineers, mechanical trades and in-house machine shop, so mixed electrical and mechanical jobs are handled by one team.

    If you would like to discuss a project, a maintenance arrangement or an audit of your site, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

  • Electrical Compliance Certificates in Queensland: What Your Plant Should Receive

    Electrical Compliance Certificates in Queensland: What Your Plant Should Receive

    The Piece of Paper Most Plants Never Ask For

    A contractor installs a new machine supply, modifies a switchboard or replaces a drive. The line runs, the invoice arrives and everyone moves on. Months later an auditor, an insurer or an investigator asks a simple question: where is the certificate for that work? In many plants nobody knows, because nobody realised one was owed.

    In Queensland, a licensed electrical contractor must certify electrical work once it has been tested. Knowing what you are entitled to receive, and keeping it, is one of the cheapest compliance habits a manufacturer can adopt. This guide explains the two certificates, what each must contain and how to build them into the way your site closes out electrical work.

    Two Certificates, Two Kinds of Work

    People search for an electrical compliance certificate or a certificate of compliance. Queensland’s rules actually provide for two documents, and which one applies depends on what was worked on.

    Certificate of testing and compliance. Issued for electrical installation work. In a plant that means the fixed wiring and associated equipment: switchboards, sub mains, final circuits, socket outlets, and the supply to a machine.

    Certificate of testing and safety. Issued for work on electrical equipment, as distinct from the installation that supplies it.

    A single project can involve both. If it is not obvious which applies to a job on your site, ask the contractor before work starts which certificate they will issue and why. A contractor who does this work regularly will answer without hesitation.

    What Each Certificate Must Say

    Both certificates must include the name and address of the person for whom the work was performed, details of the equipment or installation that was tested, the date of testing and the electrical contractor licence number.

    They then differ in what is certified. A certificate of testing and safety states that the electrical equipment has been tested to ensure it is electrically safe. A certificate of testing and compliance states that the electrical installation has been tested to ensure it is electrically safe and is in accordance with the requirements of the wiring rules, which means AS/NZS 3000.

    The wording matters. The contractor is certifying that the work was tested, not only that it was carried out. A certificate with a vague description, such as electrical works as quoted, is of limited use to you later. Ask for a description specific enough that someone else could identify the circuit or equipment.

    Who Issues It, and Who Receives It

    The certificate is issued by the electrical contractor that performed the work, or by workers acting under that contractor’s licence. It goes to the person for whom the work was done, which in practice is the business that engaged the contractor and will receive the invoice.

    If your plant engages a principal contractor for a project and the electrical work is subcontracted, be clear in the contract about how certificates will reach you. They are frequently issued to the principal contractor and never passed on.

    When You Should Receive It

    The contractor must provide the certificate as soon as possible after completing the work. There is no reason for it to trail the job by weeks. A sensible practice is to treat the certificate as part of practical completion: no certificate, no sign off, and the invoice waits.

    The contractor must also keep a copy for at least five years. That is useful if yours goes missing, but you should not rely on it. Contractors change systems, change hands and close.

    Woman electrician marks sections panel blueprint precise protocol

    The Regulation Changed Its Numbering in 2026

    These requirements sit under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 and its regulation. The Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 commenced on 1 September 2026 and replaced the Electrical Safety Regulation 2013. According to the Electrical Safety Office, the new regulation does not introduce new policy or regulatory obligations. It does restructure the document, and every section number has changed.

    The practical consequence is in your paperwork. Site procedures, contractor agreements, permit forms and older guidance that quote section numbers from the 2013 regulation are now pointing at the wrong place. The obligations are the same, but the references should be updated when documents next come up for review.

    What a Certificate Does Not Cover

    A certificate confirms that electrical work has been tested and is electrically safe. It is not a certification of the whole machine or the whole site, and it does not replace several other things a plant needs.

    Machine safety validation. Proof that guards, interlocks, light curtains and emergency stops perform their safety functions is a separate exercise with its own records.

    Test results. The certificate says testing was done. The readings themselves, such as insulation resistance and earth continuity, are worth asking for.

    Drawings. Nothing in the certificate updates your schematics.

    Software. Changes to PLC, HMI or drive settings are not captured.

    Pre-existing conditions. The certificate relates to the work performed, not to everything else in the switchboard.

    A Handover Pack Worth Asking For

    For anything beyond a minor repair, ask for the following as a set.

    The certificate of testing and compliance or certificate of testing and safety, with a specific description of the work. Test results. New or updated electrical drawings. Backups of any PLC, HMI or drive configuration that was changed. Safety validation records where a safety function was touched. Manuals and settings for new equipment. A list of anything the contractor noticed that needs attention.

    Put this list in your purchase order or contractor agreement. It costs a good contractor very little to provide, because they produce most of it anyway. A contractor who resists is telling you something.

    Where to Keep Them

    Certificates are only useful if they can be found. File them against the asset or the area of the plant, not against the supplier or the invoice number, because the question you will be asked later is what was done to this switchboard, not what did we buy from that contractor in March.

    Keep a scanned copy with your maintenance records and another off site. Record the certificate number or date in the work order. When equipment is sold or a site is handed back to a landlord, the file goes with it.

    When Your Own Electricians Do the Work

    The certificate obligations described here apply to licensed electrical contractors performing work for others. Many plants also employ their own electricians. Work done in-house must still be tested and electrically safe, and the record keeping expected of an employer is a separate matter. If your site has a maintenance team doing electrical work, confirm with the Electrical Safety Office what records you should be keeping, and consider adopting the same handover pack internally.

    A Simple Check for Your Site

    Pick the last three pieces of electrical work a contractor did on your site. For each, find the certificate. If you can produce all three in ten minutes, your system works. If you cannot, the fix is a line in your contractor procedure and a folder, and it is worth doing before someone else asks.

    How BevTech Closes Out Electrical Work

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians carry out installations to AS/NZS 3000, machine installation and commissioning, and safety system upgrades across Brisbane and South East Queensland. We take work from design through installation, testing and handover, with full electrical design drawings for new work and as-built updates for changes.

    If you would like help getting the documentation on your site back in order, including an electrical audit to establish what you have, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

    This article is a general guide current as at October 2026 and is not legal advice. Confirm the requirements for your own circumstances with the Electrical Safety Office.

  • Commercial vs Industrial Electrician: Which Does Your Site Need?

    Commercial vs Industrial Electrician: Which Does Your Site Need?

    The Same Licence, Very Different Work

    A manufacturer looking for an electrician will find hundreds of businesses describing themselves as commercial and industrial. The phrase suggests the two are much the same. They are not, and choosing the wrong one for a job is a common and avoidable cause of delay, rework and extended downtime.

    This guide explains the real difference between commercial and industrial electricians, which parts of a manufacturing site suit each, and how to tell which one you are talking to.

    What the Licence Does and Does Not Tell You

    In Queensland both hold the same electrical work licence, and the businesses they work for hold the same electrical contractor licence. The law makes no distinction between commercial and industrial. A licence confirms that a person is permitted to perform electrical work and has been trained to do it safely. It does not tell you what they have spent the last ten years doing.

    The distinction is one of experience. That makes it harder to check and more important to ask about.

    What Commercial Electricians Do

    Commercial electrical work is the electrical fit-out and maintenance of buildings: offices, shops, schools, warehouses, hospitality venues and the like. The typical scope includes lighting and emergency lighting, general power, distribution boards, data and communications cabling, air conditioning supplies, security and access systems, and switchboard upgrades.

    It is skilled work with its own demands. Commercial electricians are good at reading building plans, coordinating with other trades on a construction programme, meeting building compliance requirements and finishing work neatly in spaces the public will see.

    Male electrician uniform working switchboard electricity

    What Industrial Electricians Do

    Industrial electrical work is about machinery and process. The scope includes three phase motor circuits, motor control centres, variable speed drives and soft starters, PLCs and HMIs, sensors and instrumentation, machine safety systems, and the installation and commissioning of production equipment.

    The skills are different. An industrial electrician reads control schematics instead of building plans, fault finds logically through a control system, understands how a machine is meant to behave and works safely around moving plant. In food and beverage plants they also work within hygiene rules and washdown conditions that a commercial electrician may never have met.

    Where the Two Overlap

    The boundary is not a wall. Both install cable tray, terminate switchboards and test installations. Many electricians have done some of each. And every factory contains a good deal of commercial style work: the office, the canteen, the warehouse lighting, the car park.

    The overlap is why the confusion exists. A contractor who has wired a factory building has not necessarily worked on what is inside it.

    Which Does Your Site Need

    For a manufacturing site the answer is usually both, for different things.

    Suited to a commercial electrician: office and amenities power and lighting, warehouse lighting upgrades, data cabling, exit and emergency lighting testing, general building maintenance, car park and external lighting.

    Needing an industrial electrician: anything connected to a production machine, motor starters and drives, control panels, PLC and HMI faults, sensors and instruments, safety interlocks and emergency stops, new machine installation and line modifications.

    Worth thinking about: main switchboard work and power distribution. Either may be capable, but the work has to be planned around production, and an understanding of what each circuit feeds on the factory floor matters a great deal.

    Signs You Have the Wrong One for the Job

    A commercial electrician out of their depth on a production line tends to show it in recognisable ways. They ask where the reset button is. They cannot connect to the PLC and do not own the software. They replace components in turn until the fault goes away. They are uncomfortable isolating part of a machine while the rest runs. They install standard fittings in a washdown area. They finish a job on a safety circuit without testing and recording the safety function.

    None of this reflects on their ability as tradespeople. It reflects a mismatch between the job and their experience. The reverse mismatch exists too. An industrial electrician is rarely the most economical choice for fitting out an office.

    Six Questions That Reveal the Difference

    Because the licence will not tell you, ask.

    What proportion of your work is on production machinery? Which PLC and drive platforms do your electricians work with, and do you hold the software? Can you describe a recent fault you diagnosed on a production line? What do you do differently when working in a food production area? Who validates a safety function after you have modified it? Do you provide electrical drawings and update existing ones?

    An industrial contractor answers these quickly and specifically, with examples. A commercial contractor will often answer honestly that it is not their usual work, which is a useful answer and one to respect.

    Why the Wrong Choice Costs More in a Plant

    In a commercial building a slow diagnosis means a room without lights for a few extra hours. In a plant it means a line standing idle, product at risk in tanks, people paid to wait and orders slipping. Hourly rates are a small part of the cost of a breakdown. The length of the stoppage is the large part, and the length depends on how quickly someone understands the machine.

    There is also a safety dimension. Production machinery can injure people in ways that building services cannot. Work on guards, interlocks and emergency stops calls for people who understand machine safety, and modifications to a machine can carry design responsibilities that a plant should not take on by accident.

    Should You Use One Contractor or Two

    Some manufacturers use a commercial contractor for the building and an industrial one for the plant. That can work well provided the boundary is clear and both know who is responsible for the main switchboard and the distribution system between them.

    Others prefer one provider for everything on site. The advantage is a single team that knows the whole installation, from the incoming supply to the last sensor on the line. If you take this route, make sure the provider is industrial first. An industrial electrician can change a light fitting. The reverse does not always hold.

    Industrial Electricians at BevTech

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our electricians are industrial specialists. They work every day on fillers, seamers, cappers, labellers, conveyors, motor control centres, refrigeration and CIP systems, on Allen Bradley and Siemens control platforms, alongside our automation engineers and TUV certified functional safety engineers. We carry out installations to AS/NZS 3000, machine commissioning, production fault finding, safety system upgrades and electrical design, with 24/7 shift coverage and breakdown support across Brisbane and South East Queensland.

    If you are not sure whether a job on your site needs industrial experience, ask us. Use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact and we will give you a straight answer, including when the right answer is a commercial contractor.

    This article is a general guide current as at October 2026. Check any electrician’s licence on the Electrical Safety Office public search before work starts.

  • Motor Starters Explained: DOL, Star Delta, Soft Starter or Variable Speed Drive

    Motor Starters Explained: DOL, Star Delta, Soft Starter or Variable Speed Drive

    Four Ways to Start a Motor

    Every electric motor in a plant needs something between it and the supply to start it, stop it and protect it. That something is a motor starter, and the choice of type has a direct effect on energy use, mechanical wear, product handling and the load a site places on its electrical supply.

    There are four main options in industrial use: direct on line, star delta, soft starter and variable speed drive. Each suits a different job. This guide explains how they work, what they cost you in practice and how to decide which belongs on which motor.

    What Every Motor Starter Has to Do

    Whatever the type, a starter has three jobs. It switches the motor on and off, traditionally with a contactor. It protects the motor from overload, so that a jammed conveyor or a seized pump trips the circuit instead of burning out the windings. And it works with upstream protection, a circuit breaker or fuses, that clears a short circuit.

    The four types differ in how they bring the motor up to speed, and that is where the consequences lie.

    Direct on Line

    A direct on line starter, usually shortened to DOL, connects the motor straight across the supply. It is the simplest and cheapest arrangement: a contactor, an overload and little else.

    The cost is in what happens during the first second or two. A motor started direct on line typically draws six to eight times its full load current until it reaches speed, and it delivers its starting torque to the driven equipment as a jolt.

    For small motors neither matters much. For larger ones the current surge can dip the voltage across the site, and the mechanical shock wears couplings, belts, gearboxes and chains. On a conveyor carrying open containers, a DOL start can be enough to tip product.

    Best for: small motors, loads that start easily and equipment that starts infrequently.

    Star Delta

    A star delta starter reduces the surge by starting the motor with its windings connected in star, which applies a lower voltage to each winding, and then switching to delta once the motor is near speed. Starting current and starting torque both fall to about one third of the direct on line values.

    It was the standard solution for larger motors for decades, and many are still in service. It has real limitations. It needs a motor with all six winding ends brought out and wound for delta connection at line voltage. It needs three contactors and a timer. The reduced torque means it will not start a heavily loaded machine. And the changeover from star to delta produces its own current and torque spike, which can be nearly as severe as the one it was meant to avoid if the timing is wrong.

    Best for: existing installations, and loads that start lightly such as fans and unloaded compressors. For new work it has largely been overtaken by the next two options.

    Soft Starter

    A soft starter uses electronic switching to raise the voltage to the motor gradually over a set ramp time. Current is limited to a level you choose, the motor accelerates smoothly and the mechanical shock largely disappears. Most soft starters can also ramp down, which is valuable on pumps because it prevents the water hammer caused by a sudden stop.

    Once the motor is at speed, a bypass contactor usually takes over and the motor runs straight from the supply. There are no ongoing losses and no speed control. A soft starter changes how a motor starts and stops, and nothing about how it runs.

    One point to understand: reducing the voltage reduces torque sharply, in proportion to the square of the voltage. A soft starter set too gently will fail to start a heavy load. Settings need to suit the machine.

    Best for: pumps, fans, compressors and conveyors that run at one speed and benefit from a gentle start and stop.

    Variable Speed Drive

    A variable speed drive controls both the voltage and the frequency supplied to the motor, which gives control of speed across the whole range and not only during starting. It can deliver full torque from standstill while drawing no more than about full load current from the supply.

    That makes it the most capable option and the most complex. A drive lets a conveyor match the speed of the filler ahead of it, lets a pump deliver exactly the flow a process needs and, on fans and pumps, can cut energy use substantially because the power required falls steeply as speed is reduced.

    The trade-offs are real. Drives cost more, generate heat and need clean, cool enclosures. They produce electrical harmonics and noise that must be managed with correct cabling and filtering. Long motor cables and older motors can need extra protection. And a drive has dozens of parameters that must be set correctly and backed up.

    Best for: anything where speed needs to change, where process control matters or where running slower saves energy.

    The Four Compared

    Starting current. DOL is highest at six to eight times full load. Star delta is about a third of that. A soft starter is adjustable, commonly set at around three to four times. A variable speed drive is the lowest, at around full load current.

    Mechanical stress. DOL is the harshest. Star delta is gentler at the start but adds a jolt at changeover. Soft starters and drives are smooth.

    Speed control. Only the variable speed drive provides it.

    Complexity and cost. DOL is lowest, then star delta, then soft starter, with the drive highest.

    Controlled stopping. Soft starters and drives can ramp down. DOL and star delta simply release the motor.

    Choosing for Typical Plant Equipment

    Conveyors. Variable speed drives on anything that carries product between machines, so that speeds can be matched and starts are gentle. Small transfer conveyors can run DOL.

    Pumps. A drive where flow or pressure needs controlling, such as CIP supply and product transfer. A soft starter where the pump runs at one duty and water hammer is the concern.

    Fans and blowers. Drives where airflow varies, because the energy saving is often the strongest of any application. Soft starters for fixed duty.

    Compressors. Follow the manufacturer. Many packaged compressors have their own starting arrangement built in.

    Mixers and agitators. Drives, for speed control and for the high torque needed to start in thick product.

    What It Means for Your Electrical Supply

    Starting current is not only the motor’s problem. A large motor starting direct on line can dip the voltage enough to trip sensitive equipment elsewhere on site, and electricity distributors place limits on the disturbance a customer’s motors may cause on the network. If you are adding a large motor, the starting method needs to be part of the conversation about supply capacity, not an afterthought.

    When to Review Old Starters

    Old starters are worth a second look when a motor or its gearbox fails repeatedly, when lights flicker or drives trip as a large machine starts, when a star delta starter bangs at changeover, when a pump stop shakes the pipework, or when a machine would simply work better at a different speed. Replacing a tired star delta starter with a soft starter or a drive is usually a straightforward job that can be done in a maintenance window.

    Any change to a starter is electrical work and must be done by a licensed electrician. The overload settings, cable sizes and protection all need checking against the new arrangement, and the drawings should be updated to match.

    Motor Control Work From BevTech

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians install, set up and fault find starters, soft starters and variable speed drives on conveyors, fillers, pumps, refrigeration plant and motor control centres, and our automation engineers integrate drives with Allen Bradley and Siemens control systems. Because our mechanical trades and machine shop are in the same business, we can look at the gearbox and the coupling as well as the starter.

    If a motor on your line is starting harder than it should, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

    The figures in this article are typical values for general guidance. Actual starting currents and settings depend on the motor and the load, so have a licensed electrician assess the specific application.

  • Three Phase Power in Manufacturing Plants: What Plant Managers Need to Know

    Three Phase Power in Manufacturing Plants: What Plant Managers Need to Know

    The Supply Behind Every Machine

    Three phase power is the reason a factory can run a row of large motors from a single supply. Almost every machine on a production floor depends on it, yet for most managers it stays out of sight until something goes wrong: a motor runs backwards after supply work, a new machine arrives rated for a different voltage, or a main breaker trips on the first hot afternoon after a line extension.

    You do not need to be an electrician to make good decisions about your plant’s power. You do need a working picture of how three phase supply behaves and where its limits are. This guide provides one.

    What Three Phase Power Is

    A single phase supply delivers power as one alternating wave. A three phase supply delivers three waves on three conductors, each offset from the others by a third of a cycle. The peaks arrive one after another, so the combined power delivered is smooth instead of pulsing.

    In Australia the nominal supply is 230 volts between any phase and neutral and 400 volts between any two phases, at 50 hertz. The two figures are related by the square root of three: 230 multiplied by 1.732 is approximately 400. Lighting and general power outlets use one phase and neutral. Motors and larger machines use all three.

    Why Factories Use It

    Motors start and run by themselves. Three phases create a rotating magnetic field inside a motor, so a three phase motor needs no starting capacitor or auxiliary winding. That makes it simpler, more robust and more efficient than a single phase motor of the same size.

    More power through less copper. For the same current in each conductor, a three phase supply delivers considerably more power than a single phase one. Cables, switchgear and transformers are smaller for the work done.

    Smoother delivery. Constant power means less vibration in motors and steadier operation of drives and power supplies.

    Phase Rotation

    The three phases reach their peaks in a set order, and that order determines which way a motor turns. Swap any two phases and every motor fed from that point reverses.

    This matters whenever supply work is done: a transformer replacement, a new main switchboard, a temporary generator connection or a repair to an incoming cable. If rotation is not checked before production equipment is energised, pumps run backwards, conveyors feed the wrong way and some machines can be damaged within seconds. Checking rotation takes a few minutes with the right instrument, and it should appear as a line item on any plan that touches the incoming supply.

    Balance, and Why It Matters

    A three phase system works best when each phase carries a similar load. Motors draw from all three equally, but single phase loads such as lighting, heaters and office power sit on one phase each. As a site grows, those loads tend to accumulate unevenly.

    An unbalanced system carries current in the neutral, runs some conductors hotter than others and produces unequal voltages. Motors are particularly sensitive. A small imbalance in voltage produces a much larger imbalance in motor current, which means extra heat and shorter winding life. If motors in one area fail more often than they should, phase balance is worth measuring.

    Losing a Phase

    If one phase is lost through a blown fuse, a failed contactor pole or a loose connection, a running motor will often keep turning on the remaining two. It draws far more current to do so and overheats quickly. A stopped motor will usually hum and refuse to start.

    Modern motor protection detects phase loss and trips before damage is done, but older starters may not. If your plant still has older thermal overloads without phase failure protection on critical motors, that is a modest upgrade with a large payoff.

    How Much Have You Got

    Every site has a limit, set by the size of the supply the distributor has agreed to provide and by the main switchboard and cables behind it. Plants rarely hit that limit in one step. They creep towards it, one machine at a time.

    Before adding significant load, ask for a maximum demand assessment. This looks at what the site actually draws at its busiest, using logged data where possible, and compares it with the capacity available. The answer decides whether the new machine can simply be connected, whether a switchboard needs upgrading, or whether an application to the distributor for a larger supply is needed, which can take months.

    Large Queensland business customers are generally billed on demand measured in kVA, so how the load is drawn affects the bill as well as the capacity. A site with poor power factor pays for capacity it is not turning into useful work, which is one more reason to measure before you add load.

    Imported Machines: Voltage and Frequency

    Beverage and packaging machinery is built all over the world, and not all of it is designed for a 400 volt, 50 hertz supply. Equipment from North America is commonly built for 480 volts at 60 hertz. This catches plants out at installation more often than it should.

    Voltage can be corrected with a transformer. Frequency cannot be changed so easily. A motor designed for 60 hertz and connected directly to a 50 hertz supply turns at five sixths of its design speed, about 17 per cent slower, and may run hotter. Where motors are fed through variable speed drives the problem largely disappears, because the drive creates its own output frequency. Fixed speed motors, transformers, solenoids and some control components need individual checking.

    The time to raise this is before the purchase order is signed. Specify the supply voltage and frequency in writing, ask the supplier to confirm how each motor is fed, and have an electrician review the electrical drawings before the machine ships.

    The Neutral and Harmonics

    In a balanced system with traditional loads, the neutral carries very little current. Modern plants are full of electronic equipment: variable speed drives, switch mode power supplies and LED lighting. These draw current in a distorted pattern and create harmonics, which can add together in the neutral and in transformers and cause heating that the original design never allowed for.

    The symptoms are warm neutrals, transformers running hot at modest load, nuisance tripping and capacitor failures. A power quality survey measures the distortion and shows whether it needs attention.

    Questions to Ask Before Your Next Change

    How much spare capacity does the site have at its peak, based on measurement? Is the load reasonably balanced across the three phases? Do critical motors have phase loss protection? Will phase rotation be checked after any supply work? Does the new machine match our voltage and frequency? Has anyone measured harmonics since the last batch of drives went in? Do we hold a current single line diagram of the site?

    If the answer to several of these is that nobody is sure, an electrical audit will answer all of them in one exercise.

    How BevTech Can Help

    BevTech is a family owned engineering business in Richlands, Brisbane, with more than 25 years in beverage and FMCG manufacturing. Our industrial electricians carry out electrical installations, switchboard modifications and plant extensions to AS/NZS 3000, install and commission new and relocated machines, and conduct condition audits of site electrical systems that find problems before they cause downtime. We work across Brisbane and South East Queensland with 24/7 breakdown support.

    If you are planning a new machine or a line extension and want to know what your supply can take, use the contact form at bevtech.com.au/contact.

    This article is a general guide. Supply arrangements differ between sites, so have a licensed electrician assess your own installation before making changes.

@Fd2X@HoSi10178
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