Smart Manufacturing: Energy Management can Magnify Energy Savings

Smart manufacturing describes the use of real-time data, technological integration and human decision-making to optimize process efficiency, prevent equipment failure, improve productivity and energy intensity. As the technologies involved become more sophisticated, the potential for greater productivity and energy efficiency gains increases.

Combining Productivity and Energy Efficiency

Industrial plants depend on a range of technologies associated with process and operational control to operate effectively and efficiently. Every sort of manufacturing process from high technology to chemical production to food processing use controls and associated technologies, such as sensors and advanced metering, to regulate production processes. These control technologies have become more sophisticated in parallel with industrial infrastructure, e.g. machining, and information technology, including automation and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The integration of controls and automation and ERP software can enable better data sharing throughout a manufacturing plant, which can better inform decision-making toward enterprise-wide management objectives, including improved productivity, energy and environmental performance, and worker safety.

Automation and Energy Management

Advanced controls, automation systems and sensors have been used to improve industrial process control and energy efficiency for years. However, within the context of energy management, industrial automation, advanced controls and sensors, and information technology assets offer even more significant energy savings potential. Industrial process optimization depends heavily on data, which is used to drive decision-making at all levels of a plant, whether its production scheduling, equipment maintenance or energy consumption. Because industrial sensors and wireless controls provide real-time data feeds to manufacturing plants, data-enabled automation systems can make energy use more visible in real-time, which can potentially facilitate continuous improvement of energy use in manufacturing plants, buildings and data centers.

According to Paul Hamilton, VP at Schneider Electric, “The next big evolution we see in energy management is the convergence of energy infrastructure and information technology. As technologies become more sophisticated and data collection of energy use becomes more consistent, decision makers in a plant can use the data to use energy more efficiently and facilitate persistence of energy savings.”

How Does ISO 50001 Fit?

ISO 50001 is the first ISO standard that engages organizations to manage energy specifically. Companies that decide to conform with ISO 50001 have to establish energy metrics, collect energy use data, set up reporting schedules and develop a strategic policy and management plans to continuously improve energy efficiency. These management plans include behavioral and technology-based actions to save energy and meet their energy performance goals. The convergence between automation (PLC/SCADA) and information technologies, particularly wireless networking, can support these activities. Not only can such technologies optimize energy used by industrial equipment, but they can also uncover energy use anomalies in industrial processes during multiple periods of plant operation (plant shut downs, normal and peak production) and across similar production lines or plants within a company.

The consistent collection of energy use data combined with data-enabled automation systems can deliver actionable measures in real-time. For Hamilton, “ISO 50001 gives manufacturers the context to undertake various energy efficiency measures by making energy use information a key component of production decisions.”

Bringing it Together: ERP Software

Recently, ERP software packages have begun offering energy management modules, which can be aligned with ISO 50001. ERP software and planning systems offer dashboards for a wide variety of industrial performance metrics, including financial performance, supply chain performance and worker productivity. These dashboards can present energy data and energy performance.

According to Marcia Walker, director of energy solutions marketing at SAP, “dashboards in ERP systems can customize and furnish energy performance information where it matters most. A maintenance manager can see equipment drawing more energy than necessary and can then seamlessly create a work order in the asset management component of ERP, or the VP of operations can compare energy performance across manufacturing facilities.”

By presenting energy data this way manufacturers that want to conform with ISO 50001 can track energy performance in real-time and help ensure continuous improvement towards their energy efficiency goals.