Paper Technology International 2024 - Journal - Page 103
PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
through digitization:
OOptimization
Red light for energy guzzlers...
and more
Christian Jung, Sales Account Executive at T.CON
INTRODUCTION:
Integrating energy data with a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is the ideal way for paper manufacturers to bring
transparency to consumption right down to the production process level. SAP Gold Partner T.CON knows the industry for 25 years and
integrates energy data to generate a detailed consumption pro昀椀le for current and scheduled orders. This opens up a range of possibilities
for improvements. Which ones are they and what are the success factor for an MES integration?
In the dynamic landscape of
the paper industry, where innovation
meets tradition, the quest for sustainable
practices has become more crucial than
ever. As managers at the forefront of
energy-intensive paper production, the
imperative to embrace effective energy
management cannot be overstated.
Beyond its environmental implications, the
strategic implementation of robust energy
management systems holds the key to
optimizing operational costs, enhancing
resource ef昀椀ciency, and ensuring
long-term competitiveness. But how to
cope with the energy-intensiveness and
achieve sustainable and cost-effective
production method?
In this article, we delve into the
pivotal role of energy data in the paper
industry, introducing measures that help to not fall and instead
create transparency in this and other production-related regards with
state-of-the art software solutions.
A survey of 2000 companies conducted by the International
Energy Agency recently found that 97 percent of manufacturing
companies are planning to invest or have already invested in
energy ef昀椀ciency measures. Indeed, 89% are planning to increase
their investments in energy ef昀椀ciency over the next 昀椀ve years. To
maximize payback on such investments, it is usually most ef昀椀cient
to focus on production. While energy management has been de昀椀ned
by the VDI 5600 standard as one of the core tasks of an MES since
2016, and on paper almost all products support energy management
as per ISO 50001, this often means nothing more than a way
for the user to manually enter energy meter readings into a form
昀椀eld. Meanwhile, a number of software vendors have established
themselves on the market with dedicated energy management
systems that operate independently from an MES.
Enriching the EMS with MES data
An energy management system (EMS) measures
consumption continuously and offers analysis options. Most
enterprises already have numerous meters and sensors in place,
and are running various enterprise systems – for example, they
might have a BDE, MDE, or MES and an ERP system – all of which
can provide relevant data for energy management. MES software
can also provide functions for logging, processing and visualizing
Figure 1: Enriching the EMS with MES data.
data, thereby complementing the strengths of an EMS. Even if
all the MES supports are manual entry of meter readings, these
can still be useful for exploring how energy management data
correlates to production data. Depending on the user, the number
and type of loads logged may differ. Some companies might log the
consumption of each individual production machine directly, while
others only have a single meter for a whole group of machines.
However, by integrating the MES and energy management system,
it is possible in virtually any setup to determine historical energy
consumption over a speci昀椀ed period, broken down to speci昀椀c
production orders or produced material.
Order-speci昀椀c energy data
T.CON’s MES CAT, used particularly in the paper and 昀椀lm
production industries, makes use of data broken down by wafer or
reel. This data is combined with energy cost information provided
by the ERP system. That way, companies know exactly what is
being consumed where; the links between different factors are made
transparent (such as resource utilization, processes, production
volumes and temperature). Additional parameters can then be
incorporated into the analyses, so that energy consumption can be
broken down at order level, rather than just treated as a cost factor.
This information can in turn be used as the basis for a continuous
improvement process (CIP).
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