Energy

The energy functionality of Infor MES enables you to record and analyze energy usage of all your processes.

MES communicates with your energy meters to monitor common energy sources including electricity, natural gas, inert gases, water, steam, oil, and compressed air.

The data is automatically collected in real-time, directly from the meters, and presented on the operator dashboard. Alerts are raised when the energy usage exceeds the thresholds. Further analysis can be done by the continuous improvement team to monitor energy usage under certain conditions, and track energy usage all the way down to energy consumed per piece.

MES can automatically detect when energy is being used unnecessarily. For example, if the oven is on and using energy, but the line is not producing.

This information is crucial when striving to reduce energy losses.

MES enables use of these sustainability initiatives to align with these standards and processes:

  • Lean
  • 6 Sigma
  • ISO 50001

Key Features

These are the key benefits of the energy capability of MES:

  • Monitor all common energy sources
  • Automatically collect data from energy meters
  • Capture a variety of measures, including consumption, rates/flows, and power factor
  • Create virtual meters by aggregating data from other physical meters
  • Record energy data manually if an automatic connection is not available or data is recorded on a less frequent basis
  • Monitor energy in the primary areas of the factory, such as production lines and ancillary equipment
  • Real-time visibility of energy consumption and alerts to enable fast reaction times
  • Enable user-defined categories for energy usage
  • Provide KPIs to assess energy usage
  • Assign meters to cost centers
  • Compare energy usage when equipment is running, stopped, or off
  • Define varying targets based on when equipment is running, stopped, or off
  • Identify peak loads of energy usage
  • Manage energy tariffs and usage to reduce costs
  • Evaluate energy usage patterns over time
  • Alert the operator when energy is being over-consumed
  • Escalate over-consumption through email alerts
  • Provide analytical reporting for energy to be reviewed by production run, shift, crew, material, material characteristics, source, equipment, process, and so on

Benefits

Reduce costs
  • Alert the operator when energy is being used unnecessarily to reduce energy usage and costs.
  • Evaluate historic data for continuous improvement.
  • Operators can use the data to implement simple measures, such as turning off energy consumption when the machine is stopped.
  • Identify leaks, which leads to energy savings.
  • Compressed air leakage detection.
  • Support accurate allocation of energy costs, which improves cost control.
  • Energy usage is booked directly to the relevant cost center.
  • Enable sustainability initiatives by addressing energy waste, such as Lean, Six Sigma, and ISO 5001.
  • Improve the management of peak loads, tariffs, off loads, and shut downs.
Automatic
  • Energy can be recorded automatically to give accurate data direct from the machine.
  • Automatic data is collected through OPC.
  • Improve operators effectiveness and optimize their time by collecting data automatically.
  • Automatic data collection reduces errors.
Accuracy
  • Data collected directly from the machine cannot be disputed or altered.
  • Measurements collected automatically from meters provide greater granularity of data.
  • Data is directly tied to other related data in MES, such as the material, for the energy consumption.
  • All data is in a single system.
Real-time
  • Visibility of energy usage in real-time.
  • Visibility of over-consumption in real-time.
  • Visibility of KPIs and alerts in real-time.
  • Use the real-time data to react faster and make the factory more agile and responsive when problems occur.
Reporting
  • Powerful reporting to aggregate energy data over time, show trends and allow for continuous improvements.
  • Current and historic energy figures displayed to operator to give visibility of the process.
  • Use reporting for continuous improvement and compare energy by production run, shift, crew, material, material characteristics, and much more.
  • Facilitates benchmarking of production equipment and facilities.
  • Seamless integration with the other MES functionality, such as production. For example, correlate energy usage with pieces produced.
  • Compare consumption variation between different meters, production areas, and lines.
  • Analyze how usage varies over time.
ERP connectivity
  • Upload energy usage to ERP.
  • Tie ERP energy usage back to specific cost centers.

Some benefits are only available when combined with functionality in other modules.