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Asset management strategies embrace component innovation and IIoT

With continuing investment in equipment and automation, operations teams are moving to a comprehensive approach for better optimization with nontraditional sensors and components.

After finding an inccorrect sequence of operation with its cooling compressors, the Strauss Group found energy savings on a month-to-month basis that led to $75,000 in annual savings at one facility.
After finding an inccorrect sequence of operation with its cooling compressors, the Strauss Group found energy savings on a month-to-month basis that led to $75,000 in annual savings at one facility.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) unleash strong opinions in the food and beverage industry and, in general, manufacturing, with hotly debated topics such as overall equipment efficiency (OEE) or the capacity utilization metric. The total manufacturing cost per unit excluding materials is a straightforward measurement of production, but maintenance costs can comprise 15 to 20 percent of production costs for food and beverage producers.

Those are alarmingly high percentages, and the 2017 PMMI Trends in Food Processing survey shows plant managers are evaluating many automation solutions to contain asset management costs. The options include full-blown Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) approaches, condition monitoring, adding more sensors and even machine components that increase production availability.

Adding sensors introduces IIoT technology and gives food producers the chance to build upon small successes. A new sensor solution from Panoramic Power offers just this type of solution and combines operational efficiency with energy management.

“Energy management has historically been about discovering and eliminating waste,” says Jon Rabinowitz, head of marketing for Panoramic Power. “In recent years, that understanding has been increasingly applied to improving efficiencies in process and equipment operations.”

This energy management solution begins with the sensors monitoring power load levels of circuits tied to crucial components or equipment, for example, an induction motor or a pump. The goal is to identify an “early” surge in power levels for a piece of equipment and evaluate it with the company’s mobile PowerRadar Software analytics platform. Also, sensor integration is easy due to these sensor being installed on individual circuits via the electrical panel on the equipment.

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