The discussion surrounding manufacturing analytics often quickly diverts to a conversation about analyzing machines, production, and operational elements of manufacturing. However, one of the new ways that top manufacturers are leveraging analytics is in how they use utilities like energy, water, and more.
Consider the way that a production line runs or the amount of water used on many factory floors. These efforts leverage a lot of resources, and not just the ones internal to the manufacturer.
Manufacturers are starting to realize these are not fixed costs. Utilities offer a major area for savings for a lot of manufacturers.
Improving Energy Efficiency on a Factory Floor
Consider these important questions. These were shared from a recent Mingo customer who was leveraging the technology to improve the use of energy across the entire plant:
- How much energy is used per machine?
- How much energy is used per part?
- How much energy is used per production run?
- And lastly, how consistent are all of these components?
Imagine the outliers that potentially exist in this equation.
Which machines are running in a manner that is costing the business money in the form of power? How does this apply to the power used per part, and better yet, per production run?
Most manufacturers know that they could easily identify some major cost-saving measures if they could have this information distributed to the right people.
Visualizing this information is extremely appetizing to manufacturers with high utility bills.
In our example above, Mingo delivered this information to the manufacturer right out of the box. This made it easy for them to identify areas where energy usage could be greatly improved.
Improving Water Usage on the Factory Floor
In the same manner that energy usage is often inconsistent across multiple areas of the manufacturing process, water usage is also an area of major utility-based spending.
Manufacturers use water for mixing, cleaning, production, and more.
If you’re a manufacturer that uses a lot of water in your plant, can you identify the inconsistencies in how water is utilized inside the business right now?
For some manufacturers, the cost can be significant.
5 Dearborn, Michigan manufacturers implemented water-saving practices in 2018 and saved a combined $22 million in water costs.
The method for understanding this is the same as with energy usage. Almost all machines are outfitted with the ability to track this information, and if they’re not, there is a simple solution.
From there, plugging in an analytics tool that is already built to deliver this information can provide the visibility that is absolutely necessary to solve these problems and achieve cost-savings from water consumption.
The Bottom Line on Utility Savings
Energy and water consumption are utility costs that can end up being a big expense that is often thought of as a fixed cost. But, as many manufacturers have proven recently, this is a cost that can be greatly reduced with a higher grade of internal visibility.
Understanding usage trends and areas of sub-performance can help manufacturers quickly realize issues or procedures that can quickly introduce savings.
The method for achieving this starts with being able to track the right data and then visualize it in a way that highlights where the biggest areas of inconsistency are.
If you’d like to learn more, you can request a demo of how Mingo can help with this process.
