- 15 min
At our recent ELEV8 event, we had the privilege of hosting Hulamin, one of South Africa’s longest-standing aluminium manufacturers, for a live conversation about their digital transformation journey with Ignition and Canary. What followed was an honest and inspiring discussion with Leon Potgieter (Automation Manager) and Elvis Phala (Systems Engineer), a duo driving some of the most progressive automation work in the industry.
This wasn’t a typical product demo.
It was a real story of change: modernisation, innovation, and millions saved.
Prefer watching instead of reading? Watch the full case study here.
A 75-Year-Old Manufacturer Looking for a Modern Platform
Hulamin has been in operation since 1949, with decades of experience in OEM systems, legacy PLCs, and a patchwork of third-party software. Around 1998, the company standardised on a single automation platform, a good decision at the time, but one that became increasingly limiting as licensing fees grew and flexibility shrank.
A few years ago, Leon was tasked with finding something better.
“I saw Ignition on LinkedIn. It caught my eye…
I asked the team to attend one of your breakfasts.
They came back very excited.”
— Leon Potgieter
That breakfast set everything in motion. Hulamin approved a proposal to evaluate Ignition, and within a short time began a five-year plan to phase out all third-party SCADA systems.
Today, they are already working on 11 major Ignition projects, a mix of vendor-led and in-house development.
A Culture of Change, and Gamification
One of the standout themes from the conversation was Hulamin’s culture.
“My department loves change. We’re not resistant to it.”
— Leon Potgieter
To build internal momentum, the team gamified the roll-out. Developers and plant personnel participated in activities, built small demo games in Ignition, and completed Inductive University courses competitively.
This created excitement instead of fear, a rare feat for SCADA replacements.
The Foil Annealing Furnace Project: Built Fully In-House
Elvis presented the project his team is most proud of: the complete redevelopment of the foil annealing furnace SCADA system, done entirely within Hulamin.
The foil department had significant quality issues driven by:
- Lack of visibility
- Inconsistent temperature control
- Poor alarm detection
- Manual recipe handling through CSV files
- Operators having to click through 16 separate furnace screens
Ignition became the turning point, while Canary provided more profound insight into trends and process optimisation, enabling the team to make data-driven decisions with confidence.
From Legacy Screens to Modern Situational Awareness
Instead of copying the old system, a common trap, the team rebuilt everything from scratch.
Key improvements included:
One Overview Screen Instead of Sixteen
Operators can now view all furnaces at a glance, eliminating the need to page through screens endlessly.
Proper Situational Awareness & Colour Philosophy
No more rainbow SCADA.
White = running
Grey = stopped
Red = faults
Clear. Quiet. Intentional.
“It’s actually amazing how the plant adapted to situational awareness.”
— Leon Potgieter
Unified UDT-Driven Design
Because Ignition’s UDTs standardised the furnace models, development became fast and scalable, despite the challenge of having Siemens S7-200, S7-300, and S7-1500 PLCs all mixed.
Secure, Database-Driven Recipes
CSV files are gone. All recipes are now:
- Living in a secure database
- Requires proper access levels
- Log every user change through Ignition’s audit system
- Integrate directly with MES to auto-fill recipe data
Early Deviation Detection & Improved Quality
The new system added:
- Four-hour trend checks
- Reminders and escalations
- Notifications to supervisors
- Far better trending & reporting
- Temperature deviation alerts
- Visual confirmations of recipe changes
Canary plays a key role here, helping the team analyse production data, identify patterns, and optimise process efficiency across the foil annealing furnaces.
The result?
Significantly fewer furnace deviations and measurable improvements in quality.
Better Operator Responsiveness.
Animations show fans running, heaters on, doors open or sealed, clamps positioned, the kind of small visual cues that dramatically improve operational awareness.
Solving the PLC Legacy Challenge
Older S7-200 PLCs required Kepware as an OPC intermediary. New controllers were added. Addressing was inconsistent across units.
Ignition made the modernisation flexible instead of painful.
“Even though the PLCs were different, the UDT templates made everything on the screen consistent.”
— Elvis Phala
The SCADA is now prepared for future PLC upgrades without requiring the redesign of screens.
A Scalable Architecture Across the Entire Plant
Hulamin uses a distributed, scalable architecture with:
- One central Ignition gateway
- Multiple tag collector gateways across departments
- Remote tag providers for clean tag segregation
- Department-level device load balancing
This architecture supports their plant-wide rollout without overloading any single server.
Millions Saved Already
Leon didn’t mince his words:
“We’re saving millions by moving to Ignition.”
— Leon Potgieter
Not hundreds of thousands, millions.
And they’re only partway through the five-year strategy.
More Than Technology — A Team Transformation
Perhaps the best part of this story is not the screens, trends, or architecture; it’s the shift in people.
- More developers want to get involved
- Inductive University progress is a friendly competition
- The team has the confidence to tackle bigger projects
- They now maintain and develop systems internally
- Operators have better tools and fewer quality issues
- Canary enables smarter, faster decision-making
- The business trusts the platform
That is fundamental digital transformation.
What’s Next for Hulamin?
The team is now working toward:
- standardising PLC structures
- upgrading legacy controllers
- continuing the rollout to more manufacturing areas
- adopting new Ignition 8.3 designer features
- exploring WhatsApp/Telegram alarm workflows
- training more people internally
A Remarkable Journey Worth Celebrating
Hulamin’s progress shows what happens when a company:
- chooses the right platform
- embraces modern design principles
- invests in internal capability
- drives cultural change alongside technical change
From legacy SCADA screens to modern, scalable architecture, this is one of South Africa’s standout Ignition and Canary success stories.
A huge congratulations to Leon, Elvis, and the entire Hulamin team.
We’re honoured to be part of your journey.