Sights set on greener production and higher profits? 

Production companies are implementing asset level energy monitoring with Monitor Hut to make production greener and boost profits.

We frequently hear from manufacturers with a keen interest in asset level energy monitoring. The reason for this is that more often than not, their energy bills are higher than they need to be. This means their profit margins suffer. Having little to no insight to what assets use most energy, they are often stuck not knowing what to do to make improvements.

Here are some steps to take to make improvements:

• Implement asset level energy monitoring. By monitoring energy usage this way, you can spot inefficiencies and improve your performance.
• Identify problem areas. Asset level energy monitoring can help you identify problem areas and pinpoint trends that may be causing them.
• Make informed decisions. Use the information to identify improvement routes and make decisions based on the data at hand.

The way some companies monitor energy usage is by identifying the areas of their plants that are using more energy than expected. Monitor Hut can help you identify these areas, using IoT hardware and our easy-to-use analytics platform. Through our analytics platform, Monitor Hut gives a clear view of your plant’s energy usage and can highlight efficiency problems.

Once you have your data, it’s time to review the outliers. These are areas that are using more energy than expected. The important thing is that outliers get extra attention. There may be something going on in these spaces that require investigation.

You’ve identified the areas of your plant that use the most energy. How do you know if it’s normal for those areas to be using so much?

You’ll need data analytics to find out what’s causing these inefficiencies and make improvements based on the data. Importantly, you’re not just looking at what is happening now; you’re looking at why it happens and how you can make improvements going forward.

For example, if analysis flags one area because of downtime due to repairs or maintenance, it might not reflect an actual energy inefficiency at all. The plant may simply have needed to shut down the area temporarily and that’s why its energy use dropped. In this case, turning off an area isn’t the same thing as improving energy efficiency; it’s just a change in how much your plant uses electricity. Energy efficiency is about reducing how much energy you use, not just turning things off (unless those things are completely unnecessary).

Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of product produced is a useful metric in this space. This can help companies understand how their operations compare with other industrial facilities in their region and throughout the world. One way to measure this is by using a standard called the Carbon Footprint Calculator developed by the World Bank Group and the World Resources Institute (WRI). The calculator provides businesses with an estimate of their CO2 emissions and offers suggestions on how they can reduce them through energy efficiency measures or switching to renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power.

Book your free demo to see how Monitor Hut can help on your journey towards greener production.