Recent research from the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, reveals that industry-leading manufacturers are much more likely than other companies to view energy management as strategic to their business success and to apply advanced data visualization, collection and monitoring tools to their energy-management and cost-reduction strategies.
The report, partially funded by Invensys and titled “Energy Management: Driving Value in Industrial Environments,” defines best-in-class companies as those that have 90 percent overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) ratings, have reduced their energy consumption by 15 percent and outperform corporate operating margin goals by 15 percent.
“Manufacturers are under intense pressure to reduce operating costs, and many are responding to these pressures by deploying advanced energy management tools and techniques,” said report co-author Mehul Shah, research analyst with the Aberdeen Group’s Manufacturing Operations and Industrial Automation Practice. “For some, energy costs constitute as much as 25 percent of their total operating costs, and even small improvements can have a dramatic impact on their bottom line.”
Among the best practices adopted by best-in-class companies are:
· 62 percent make energy usage data available to decision makers in real-time;
· 55 percent take energy costs into account when scheduling production;
· 62 percent establish metrics to quantify the benefits of energy management programs;
· 56 percent tie operational metrics to financial metrics;
· 56 percent invest in technology to automate collection and monitoring of energy data.
Invensys has helped make the report available for free until July 3, 2009. It can be downloaded at http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410133&cid=5900.
“The findings of the Aberdeen survey are highly consistent with what we see among the clients of our energy management practice,” said Nathalie Marcotte, vice president, Global Consulting, Invensys Process Systems. “For example, in the first months of automated energy monitoring and management, our client Sasol Infrachem realized a 6 percent savings on energy feedstocks and 4 percent savings in electricity costs at just two steam stations, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings over the year. They expect substantial incremental savings as they bring together new business information and process data to identify other areas of improvement.”
For more details about energy management solutions from IPS, visit http://www.ips.invensys.com or download a free energy management white paper and view a video at www.ips-answers.com.
About IPS (Invensys Process Systems)
Invensys Process Systems (IPS), headquartered in Plano, Texas, is a global technology, software and consulting firm leading significant change in process manufacturing, plant optimization, business operations and enterprise performance. IPS clients are some of the world’s most important industrial organizations – companies that operate large oil refineries; plants that process chemicals, gas, LNG, power, pharmaceutical and minerals; and pulp and paper mills. IPS solutions, used at over 50,000 locations across the globe, include field devices and controls from Foxboro and Triconex, advanced applications from SimSci-Esscor, operations management from Avantis, and the world’s first truly open enterprise control system, InFusion.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen Group for insights that drive decisions. As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company.