Increased competitive pressures, tighter margins and rising energy costs are forcing manufacturers to alter their methods of operation. At the same time, new ways of managing energy consumption and quality through sophisticated power monitoring tools have emerged – providing the information that companies need to be able to take action to reduce energy usage. In short, effective energy management is no longer an option; it is a strategic business necessity.
By 2020 it is predicted that the earth’s population will have swollen to around 8 billion people1, meaning that food and beverage manufacturers are facing a significant challenge of producing enough food to meet the world’s growing need. To add to the pressure, the UK’s manufacturers have also been tasked with reducing their energy consumption by 20 per cent.
Mounting pressure to become more sustainable means that many manufacturers are now seeking solutions that will enable them to lower energy usage but maintain flexible production standards – all while meeting health and safety guidelines.
Within the industry, the term ‘Overall Equipment Effectiveness’ or OEE, is a recognised key measurement of efficiency and is based on three main factors: performance, availability and quality. With the increasing focus on reducing energy consumption, we believe that there is an argument to now include energy within the equation – resulting in what could be termed Overall Equipment Effectiveness plus Energy Management (OEE+E).
In today’s tough economic climate, end-users now expect control systems to go beyond functional and regulatory performance. They have now become a tool to manage the plant while reducing energy and overhead costs, cutting carbon emissions and providing quick and precise information that moulds both production and business strategies.
Over the past decade, the adoption of Ethernet-based control networks and commercial off-the-shelfhardware, components and operating systems have improved the way the systems in place communicate. This provides end-users with the flexibility, choice and predictability necessary to achieve a truly energy efficient manufacturing plant. By upgrading to a fully integrated solution – incorporating both the energy management and automation system with the operation management applications – it is possible to make vast improvements to a site’s OEE+E.
Finally, for a food manufacturer to lower running costs while reducing energy consumption, they must employ a flexible automation system that is capable of reacting to changing energy costs. The price of energy can vary significantly at different times of the day, as well as geographically. While manufacturers may be using a process automation system to manage energy consumption, if they are using too much energy at the wrong times of the day, both costs and emissions will remain high.
About ENMAT
ENMAT (Energy Monitoring & Targeting) is a web based Energy Monitoring and Targeting system. It presents energy management data in a way that is relevant, meaningful and useful to users.
The purpose of Monitoring and Targeting is to relate your energy consumption data to the appropriate energy drivers, such as weather and production, so that you get a better understanding of how energy is being used. In particular, it will identify if there are signs of avoidable waste or other opportunities to reduce consumption.
Envantage offer a Monitoring and Targeting (M&T) service to enable organisations to save energy and cut costs. The use of this platform means that we can deliver a bespoke solutions to meet your needs.
Aimed at industrial/commercial SMEs and multi-site retailers, the Envantage ENMAT service utilises the latest software technologies to obtain a full picture of customer energy usage across single or multiple sites.
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