DATA COLLECTION MANAGEMENT


ENERGY SAVING STRATEGIES START WITH DATA


Manufacturing managers are being tasked with operating at a higher energy efficiency


without breaking the bank on new assets. However, the solution can often be found in data that’s already available, as Sue Roche, general manager, SolutionsPT, explains


T


he rising energy prices felt by households across the country are also having a huge impact on


UK manufacturers. This, coupled with legislation that is driving towards a Net Zero target by 2050, is creating new challenges for manufacturers. Added to this, the ongoing war in Ukraine


is influencing how the UK and our European neighbours source energy. Recent reports suggest the war will negatively impact the UK’s ability to reach Net Zero by the target date in the short term, but accelerate the overall adoption of renewable energy sources in the longer term. While the longer term shift towards renewables may eventually reduce the price sensitivity of energy to global fluctuations in the cost of fossil fuels, the required investment in greener energies is large and it will take time to wean the UK economy off oil and gas. In short, manufacturers must brace themselves for sustained high cost energy for the short and perhaps medium term. The knee-jerk reaction to the energy issue for manufacturers is simple, but also costly. A quick route to more efficient operations would be to replace aging, inefficient assets with new equipment. However, while these will usually run more efficiently than old assets, it does require a high CAPEX budget, something


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not accessible for all businesses. Of course the next, simplest, cleanest and


most efficient way to reduce the cost of energy for any business or household is to use less of it. The good news is that the capacity to do so, for most manufacturers, lies in data already being produced on the plant floor.


ENERGY STRATEGIES Treating energy consumption as a business fundamental requires manufacturers to take a strategic approach to its management. Making a list of pre-determined targets that will impact the overall energy usage of a company can start with very small behavioural changes such as ensuring all lights are switched off when no one is there and changing to more efficient lightbulbs. While such basic steps are important, they are


unlikely to make much of a dent in industrial scale energy use. Manufacturing energy strategies need to be all encompassing, looking to reduce energy intensity without compromising on productivity, and finding options to mitigate energy costs based on a company’s individual objectives. There is also the difficult balancing act of operating in an efficient, cost-effective, manner and presenting a brand which takes its


ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS - Autumn 2023


environmental credentials seriously. To best understand how to implement a strategy like this, it’s important to see the main difference between consumer usage and industry. The lights-off example is a strong place to start.


Turning off all devices at the wall can take off a significant percentage of a person’s home energy usage. Applying this to a manufacturing setting can yield a similar result, but with some caveats. Assets in a manufacturing facility can’t always


be simply turned on and off – many operate at a constant pace around the clock. Even in applications that are not running 24/7, shutting down and restarting can often mean a higher energy consumption than consistent operation due to the extra power drain on start-up. Replacing fixed speed drives with Variable Speed


Drives (VSDs) is often touted as an effective way to reduce power consumption as the drive adjusts power draw according to the requirements of the process at a given time. While VSDs offer huge potential energy saving benefits, they come at a CAPEX cost and aren’t applicable to all applications. Differentiating vibration levels can move the alignment of assets causing maintenance issues, and equipment with nonlinear loads drawing in power in abrupt short bursts can


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