An Apparel Factory’s Initiative towards Energy Management Systems

Shri Raja M Shanmugam

Warsaw International an apparel export house in Tirupur – Tamil Nadu, spear heading under the dynamic leadership of Shri. Raja M Shanmugam & his brother Ramasamy Shanmugam.

In the last three years Warsaw made strategic investments in the Renewable Energy Projects. Their Roof top Solar Installation of 1 MW plant is a state of the art and first such installation in India.

Warsaw runs their apparel factory with the multiple profits centers, These profit centers are accountable for their Performance. Hence Cost management have became inevitable activity for improving their performance.

Few months back myself and Girish of Pacific Ventures had an opportunity to discuss about the Energy Management Program and its benefits with Mr. Ram (MD of Warsaw), the outcome of the discussion was very fruitful as Mr. Ram already had some plans to have systems in place to measure and monitor the Energy Consumption, he has agreed to work with us in implementing “Wysine EMS”, Astonishingly our sales pitch was only 10 minutes!

After the initial assessment on the following,

  1. What to Measure & monitor,
  2. What are the opportunities to conserve energy
  3. How to implement the Opportunities identified

we have kick started the EMS solutions at Warsaw on the 1st week of February 2014. We have chosen the following locations to install Energy Meters for continuous monitoring.

  1. Main Incoming
  2. Compacting Division
  3. Unit II
  4. Packing Section & Office
  5. M&R Prints
  6. Lighting
  7. Compressor & Printing
  8. 18kW Compressor

EMS system was installed by linking all the eight meters and connected to the server for monitoring.

During installation we have faced major issue of “Voltage Surging”, though we have designed our EAPL Energy meters to withstand upto 300 Volts, four of our meters were gone “blind” due to the surge.

  DSC_0003After an analysis our Technical Expert Mr. Sharma figured out a way to tweak the meter with the protection device which will trigger the Fuse to go off in case of Surge.

DSC_0001
In a way we have avoided failure of Meters due to Voltage Surge

That idea worked well and we have started receiving data on our server.

The first day of consumption pattern itself assisted us and the In house Electrical Engineer to explore the opportunities.

Screen Shot of EMS

Without Measuring you cannot Monitor; Without Monitoring you cannot achieve Energy Conservation

The above screen shot explains the features of the software, we can choose the Metering point, Data, Alerts can be set and the data can be exported to the Excel for further analysis.

The Live data analysis was done with the first set of data received from the meter,

The Utilization pattern of the consumption was analyzed and based on that the prioritized approach towards addressing energy conservation was framed strategically. Prioritized Focus: 1. Compressor Systems | 2.  Lighting | 3. Packing & Office We have planned to Target 1% Improvement on the identified opportunities in the above top listed priorities.

Overloading leads to Higher consumption - Leak fixing resulted in to optimizationThe Screen shot of the Energy Consumption Pattern of the 18 kW Compressor reveals that, the compressor was consuming 22% higher than its normal consumption. Soon after this observation, few “low Hanging Opportunities” were addressed and the results were very impressive!!!

We were able to reduce its consumption from 22 kW to 15.4 kW.  Its almost 29% energy reduction which is about INR 2,35,000 Per Annually.

With a Measuring and Monitoring systems alone plants could save significant energy and money.

Another interesting finding: Empowering the Electrical Team and Awareness Building among the Shop floor Operators

Operator's Negligence caused the consumption of 10 Units per hour consistently
Operator’s Negligence caused the consumption of 10 Units per hour consistently

Negligence of the Shop Floor Operators and Lack of Awareness is the main factor which influence the Energy Performance of the Plant. The Screen shot of the particular Profit Center at the facility shows that, after 01:00 AM there is no production but the machine kept in operation and resulted in consumption of 10 Units Per Hour till when its resumed in morning by 08:00 AM. This in efficiency caused almost a loss of 80 Units Per Day.

With the live data analysis and proper evaluation the Electrical team was able to educate the operators with this screen shot and the energy loss of 80 Units per day was avoided, which resulted in savings of about INR 1,32,000/- per annum.

Our Post installation analysis revealed the following findings, Six months data analysis reveals that the consumption pattern were found optimized and consistent.

Consistent Consumption Pattern found and Optimized
Consistent Consumption Pattern of Compressor systems found and Optimized

Lighting Systems Consumption pattern

Lighting Systems Consumption pattern

Total Energy Saved = 7413 Units Per Month | Carbon Emission Reduction = 6.2 Tonnes of Carbon-Di-Oxide Emissions reduced per month.

The very purpose of writing this case study is to share this “Small Step – a Right Decision” by our Client “Warsaw International” towards “Sustainability Initiatives” in their business practices with our Support Services.

We assist you to achieve Energy Efficiency by empowering your Electrical Team with our Customized “WyMon EMS”.

Would you like to adopt the EMS and Sustainability Initiatives in your facility?  Feel free to dial +91-9965555774 or write us to manoigr@gmail.com

Raman Azhahia Manavalan

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