Case Study: Ingersoll Rand
“We have managed to reduce our overall energy consumption by 49% for the first quarter of the year!”
Customer
Ingersoll Rand’s Ireland plant manufactures transport temperature control solutions for a variety of mobile applications, including trailer, truck bodies, buses, shipboard containers and railway cars. It employs 550 people and has a turnover in excess of €200 million.
Installation
In December 2008, a ResourceKraft Advisor Energy Cost Control System was installed by 4Front Energy, one of ResourceKraft’s resellers, with virtually no downtime.
“We are so pleased with the effectiveness of the ResourceKraft service that we expect to use the technology in our sister plants, in Europe, over the coming
months.”Benefits
In the past, Ingersoll Rand had limited insight into their energy usage – just a monthly utility bill plus some 5 day old profile data from their main meter. By using ResourceKraft Advisor to monitor their main meter and 14 of their top loads, management and staff were instantly able to identify the top consumers of electricity. Furthermore, they identified that:
- Some work practices were resulting in excessive usage outside of normal operating hours
- Timer and thermostat settings on various pieces of machinery were resulting in unnecessarily lengthy run times
- On some production lines, a reduction in output did not result in a corresponding reduction in energy usage
Numerous actions were taken on the basis of the new information. These included:
- Using Advisor to define and allocate energy reduction targets in Advisor
- Equipment controllers were reprogrammed to be more energy efficient
- KPIs (Key Process Indicators) were developed to better take account of changing production cycles.
These KPIs enabled Advisor users to better measure progress against reduction targets. - Work practices were redesigned to be more energy efficient
- Advisor was used to engage with ordinary employees regarding their own energy-related behaviours
Investment
€16,000, inclusive of equipment and first years subscription. Electrical installation at the usual hourly rates.
Rewards
- The total site electricity consumption is trending towards a 56% year on year reduction
- The manufacturing area’s electricity consumption is trending towards a 65% year on year reduction
- The research and development area’s electricity consumption is trending towards a 10% year on year
reduction, in spite of considerable increase in activities - The Energy Factor COGS KPI, a measure of the sites efficiency, is steadily reducing.
John Fox, EHS Manager, Ingersoll Rand Climate Control Technologies, European Served Areas.
“Thermo King’s decision to use ResourceKraft technology has enabled us to measure our top energy consumers and loads. These measurements allow us to target our reduction efforts to where they will give the greatest benefit and we have managed to reduce our overall energy consumption by 49% for the first quarter of the year….We are so pleased with the effectiveness of the ResourceKraft service that we expect to use the technology in our sister plants, in Europe, over the coming months.”