Lean Energy Management

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Energy Profiles for your manufacturing processes

Optimising energy usage across the shop-floor

Ecopare’s Lean Energy Management solution is a fully managed Energy Resource Management solution for industrial companies.

The solution provides detailed energy mapping and analysis across the production facility allowing Manufacturers to see energy consumption down at a machine or process line level.

This information provides insight into where energy is being consumed, how much of it is value-added and how it may be optimised.

What is Lean Energy Management?

It is a fully managed service that collects detailed energy data on your shop floor. This data is then fed into our modelling software that produces energy profiles for each step in your manufacturing process or of each machine on your shop floor.

We achieve this through the deployment of energy sensors and energy meters onto key machinery and key electrical boards.

This data is then transferred to our servers for analysis. After a 4 week data collection cycle we will provide you with your energy profiles.

Key information you will receive from the energy profiles include:

Overall Energy Profile of the facility
Detailed Energy Personality profiles for each machine being monitored
Identification on where non-value added energy is being consumed
Recommendations on how to reduce the wasted energy

From these reports you will be able to reduce your energy bill by identifying and eliminating where waste consumption is occurring. Provide accurate energy cost per product line within your production facilities and have enhanced control of energy consumption.

How we collect energy data

Key benefits

Energy Profiles across your shop floor with a level of detail that your energy suppliers cannot provide
Tools and techniques to help you identify where energy is being wasted and help on how to reduce this waste
Detailed business case evidence for capital replacement programmes
A unique insight into how various machines are actually being operated, giving you rich information for OEE or Value Stream Mapping projects

What we measure

A typical Lean Energy Management project takes 4 to 6 weeks to complete. During this time we install energy sensors across a facility to capture the energy data over a production cycle.

We deploy the sensors on:

Three phase electricity meters on pumps, motors and process lines
Gas meters on boilers, ovens and AHU's
Pressure sensors and electricity meters on air compressors
Temperature sensors on process lines where heat is used as an energy source.

From this data collection we can identify:

Weekly energy usage showing baseloads, peak usage and outliers.
Machine efficiency compared to other machines (for example CNC machine comparisons
Energy Personalities to identify energy waste
Machine condition reporting via energy consumption levels

Previous Projects

Our projects have covered almost all types of manufacturing from concrete pouring plants through to silk weavers. We have many examples specific to your type of manufacturing niche.

Apparel maker finds 80% of energy is compressed air

A small apparel and textiles company realised that their old compressor was over 80% of their weekly energy consumption. This was quickly replaced with new ways of working and a new, more efficient compressor. Payback was within 3 months.

Engineering company back-up compressor ran out of hours

A large engineering company's backup 95kW compressor kicked in at midday Saturday after the week's 24x5 operation completed. This was due to the pressure dropping below 5.5bar once the main 60kW VSD compressor automatically switched off. The cost was £400 a weekend and had gone unnoticed for 2 years. An annual £20,000 pound savings was made.

Plastics Processor identifies £25,000 in increased production

The energy profile on a batch plant identified a common trend of operation for 6-7 days and then 3 days downtime. Incorrect settings of shredding blades meant build-up of the feedstock caused the machine to overheat. Once the settings where adjusted a £25,000 increase in production output plus a £4,000 decrease in energy cost was realised.

Automotive paint shop saves £52,000 pa

Running a Lean Energy Management project on a set of automotive paint booths it became apparent that the start-up times at the beginning of the operational week was not in sync with the shift start time. On getting them in sync resulted in a reduction of £1,000 a week. This gave a net £52,000 saving per annum.

Removal of obsolete processing plant saves £30,000

A successful metal etching business was using energy to heat up the chemical solutions before each shift. By eliminating the use of holding tanks and moving to a heat-as-you-go process produced a large savings. This was coupled by additional energy savings identified by the Lean Energy Management project. A total of £30,000 savings have been made to date from this project.

£25,000 energy savings by switching off out of hours

A metal fabricator undertook a facility wide Lean Energy Management project and uncovered a good annual savings. Auxiliary equipment such as compressors, water pumps and heat extraction plant were left running over the weekends. By formally implementing an end-of-week shutdown process, an annual amount of £25,000 of electricity was saved.