Posted to News on 31st May 2009, 15:17
Research reveals desire to reduce energy consumption
Recent research from the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, reveals that industry-leading manufacturers are much more likely than other companies to view energy management as strategic to their business success and to apply advanced data visualisation, collection and monitoring tools to their energy-management and cost-reduction strategies.
Partially funded by Invensys and titled Energy Management: Driving Value in Industrial Environments, the report defines best-in-class companies as those that have 90 per cent overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) ratings, have reduced their energy consumption by 15 per cent and outperform corporate operating margin goals by 15 per cent.
Report co-author Mehul Shah, a research analyst with the Aberdeen Group's Manufacturing Operations and Industrial Automation Practice, says: "Manufacturers are under intense pressure to reduce operating costs, and many are responding to these pressures by deploying advanced energy management tools and techniques. For some, energy costs constitute as much as 25 per cent of their total operating costs, and even small improvements can have a dramatic impact on their bottom line."
Among the best practices adopted by best-in-class companies are:
- 62 per cent make energy usage data available to decision makers in real-time
- 55 per cent take energy costs into account when scheduling production
- 62 per cent establish metrics to quantify the benefits of energy management programs
- 56 per cent tie operational metrics to financial metrics
- 56 per cent invest in technology to automate collection and monitoring of energy data
Invensys has helped make the report available for free until 3 July 2009. Follow the link to download a copy of Energy Management: Driving Value in Industrial Environments.
Nathalie Marcotte, vice president, Global Consulting, Invensys Process Systems, notes: "The findings of the Aberdeen survey are highly consistent with what we see among the clients of our energy management practice. For example, in the first months of automated energy monitoring and management, our client Sasol Infrachem realised six per cent savings on energy feedstocks and four per cent savings in electricity costs at just two steam stations, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings over the year. They expect substantial incremental savings as they bring together new business information and process data to identify other areas of improvement."
For more details about energy management strategies from IPS, visit www.ips.invensys.com or download a free energy management white paper and view a video at www.ips-answers.com.
