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How to successfully and quickly dial down energy bills in the CPG sector using IoT?
How to successfully and quickly dial down energy bills in the CPG sector using IoT?

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The processed and packaged food industry has an especially voracious appetite for energy. Consider this: About 30 percent of global energy is consumed by the agriculture and food industry; of this, 40 percent is consumed for food processing and transportation.[i] Of equal concern is that food production plants are highly dependent on fossil fuels. The industry has been a laggard in using renewable energy. This means it also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To combat its impact on the environment and build a more sustainable business while reducing input costs, the industry needs to urgently lower its energy consumption footprint.

A multinational client of ITC Infotech that runs several food factories across India, aside from several contract manufacturing units, found that its energy cost was 20 percent to 40 percent of the total conversion cost for different product lines. With energy costs consistently on the rise, the client decided to take measures to reduce its energy intensity. The client decided to target a 5 percent reduction in energy cost over a two-year period.

To begin the project, a large plant with an annual energy bill of over Rs 200 million was identified. Like any food processing plant, this one was also analog. Once field-level workshops were conducted with key factory personnel and shift-by-shift data was collected for assets (sub-stations, boilers, chillers, air compressors, water treatment plants, effluent treatment plants, etc.), ITC Infotech’s energy auditing professionals with domain experience analyzed the data and drew up a blueprint targeting a 5 percent reduction in energy consumption.

A fiber-optic network was laid across the factory. Digital flow meters, pressure gauges, and temperature sensors were retrofitted on production assets.  The digital instrumentation, which IoT-ized the plant, allowed the automation layer to record and deliver over 2,000 observable asset parameters (refreshed every 3 seconds). The domain expertise that ITC Infotech brought to the project ensured that the right parameters were identified and pulled into the enterprise system for trend insights and root-cause analysis, leading to a reduction in energy consumption. Here, 200 significant parameters were identified for continuous analysis (for a solution overview, see Table 1).

Two critical aspects need to be noted: One, drawing the data into the enterprise system allowed anybody in the food network of the client to access the energy optimization application. Two, having factory data drawn into the enterprise system made it necessary to enhance cybersecurity measures. To enable this, firewalls were added.

solution-overview

While energy efficiency increased within six months, it took a year of data collection to see the full benefits of the Machine Learning and Data Science leverage by the plant. The boiler alone, responsible for Rs 80 million of the Rs 200 million energy bill, saw a drop of Rs 3.5 million in the first year (4.4%).

Gradually, plant operators understood how to monitor and interpret data to control assets and improve efficiency. This happened gradually because plant operators are not equipment specialists. Many are contract workers. They need to be educated about using data to understand energy and financial loss and take accurate data-driven measures to mitigate the loss. This requires special training and attention.

This project has delivered the targeted 5 percent reduction in energy costs (in less than two years) with a concurrent drop in the plant’s carbon footprint, saving about 400 tons of CO2 in the last year.

The client is rolling out the program in the next four plants with a high energy bill. Learnings from the first implementation are trickling down to improve implementation and operations.

For businesses in the food processing industry – and the adjacent CPG sector – the learnings are clear: Any plant where the cost of energy is large always has opportunities to prevent energy loss, optimize consumption and unlock savings. But to do this, it is critical to know which asset to digitize and which data to capture for analysis.

 

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[i] https://energypedia.info/wiki/Energy_within_Food_and_Agricultural_Value_Chains#:~:text=About%2030%25%20of%20global%20energy,the%20agricultural%20and%20food%20sector.&text=Primary%20agriculture%20consumes%20only%20about,consumption%20along%20agricultural%20value%20chains

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Author:

Author image
Shantanu Choudhary
Global Practice Head,
MES & IoT, ITC Infotech 

 

Shantanu Choudhary is a Global Practice Head for the Manufacturing Service Line of ITC Infotech. In his role, he works with customers in implementing digital solutions on the factory shop floor with a specialization in MES – MOM, IoT, and Factory Automation platforms. He has 14+ years of experience with having worked in the manufacturing sector for over 5 years in the core manufacturing operation and supply chain roles. He has successfully delivered and led projects for various domains in Packaging, Automotive, Industrial Equipment, Defense Equipment (MLRS – Multiple Launch Rocket Systems) & Artillery Shells, CPG, and High-Tech. He has been instrumental in setting up and creating an MES & IOT practice from scratch at ITC Infotech. 


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ITC Infotech is a leading global technology services and solutions provider, led by Business and Technology Consulting. ITC Infotech provides business-friendly solutions to help clients succeed and be future-ready, by seamlessly bringing together digital expertise, strong industry specific alliances and the unique ability to leverage deep domain expertise from ITC Group businesses. The company provides technology solutions and services to enterprises across industries such as Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, Travel and Hospitality, through a combination of traditional and newer business models, as a long-term sustainable partner. ITC Infotech is a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd. ITC is one of India’s leading private sector companies and a diversified conglomerate with businesses spanning Consumer Goods, Hotels, Paperboards and Packaging, Agri Business and Information Technology. For more information, please visit: http://www.itcinfotech.com/

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