Key points
Endress+Hauser uses data to improve processes
A global leader in measurement and automation technology, Endress+Hauser has sales companies in more than 50 countries and production facilities on four continents. The product centre for flow measuring technology, Endress+Hauser Flow, is based in Reinach, Switzerland, on a campus that’s also home to the Endress+Hauser Group’s headquarters and Endress+Hauser Digital Solutions, which is responsible for all issues related to digital communication and automation.
The challenge
Over the past five years the number of employees at Endress+Hauser’s Reinach site has grown by 20 percent to more than 2,000. To house the growing workforce and create more space for production, a large campus development costing 60 million Swiss francs was completed in 2022, making the need to monitor the expansive site’s energy consumption more important than ever.
Pascal Meury is the energy manager at Endress+Hauser Flow: “With all the regulations we have from government and surrounding our ISO 50001 accreditation as well as our own goals, it’s essential for us to not only collect the energy data but to work with it. We see data as a resource for knowledge and improvement.”
The solution
At the end of an existing contract, it was decided that Endress+Hauser UK would take over the management of the site’s comprehensive energy monitoring system using instruments from the company’s own portfolio. The UK sales centre has over 12 years’ experience with the software used for energy monitoring, eSight, which provides a continuous check on how much energy is being used around a site.
In Reinach, eSight collects data from more than 630 instruments including flowmeters, liquid analysis transmitters, heat meters, pressure and level devices, and electricity meters. Dashboard displays of the site’s utility data make it easy to understand how much energy is being used and set targets to save energy.
Uniquely, the UK team had also developed a solution to integrate the energy monitoring system with Netilion, Endress+Hauser’s cloud-based ecosystem for IIoT. Netilion encompasses various modules to improve access to valuable information from the field.
The UK team was able to retrofit Netilion to the existing instrumentation on site as well as installing new Netilion-ready devices. As Chris Snelling, business development manager for wireless, explains, it’s an easy add-on for anyone already using digital communications: “Although Netilion is a relatively new technology, we’re able to use it with older instruments – even ones we haven’t sold for seven or eight years and basic devices like heat meters.”
The transparency that Netilion offers is already proving its worth for the team in Reinach. “I think every week we find something unexpected which we can improve,” says Pascal Meury. “If we can see that the consumption is more than expected, we can dig deeper and see what’s going on before it becomes a problem.”
The benefits
Using the combination of eSight and Netilion for energy monitoring removes the need for manual readings which are still common in many process plants. As well as saving time and effort, the automated system increases accuracy.
“When you take readings manually there are always big anomalies that you can never account for, and you might not realise that one area of the plant is using a lot of energy because you just take an average,” explains Chris Snelling. “Until you take proper measurements, you can't really focus on making savings because you don't know where your big issues are.”
Vivart Kapoor, director of IIoT solutions at Endress+Hauser Digital Solutions, says the data being produced is invaluable for preventive maintenance: “If you have certain devices which are failing periodically but you don’t know the exact reason, you can use this data to analyse the cause.”
While the system in Reinach is currently being used for improving processes and managing the cooling and ventilation system, in future it’s hoped it will be used more extensively to help Endress+Hauser meet its sustainability goals.
“At some point we’re going to have to start publishing the CO2 footprint of every device we produce as well as the energy consumption of the whole company,” says Vivart Kapoor. “At the moment collecting such data is a huge task for dozens of people but in future this will help us. The combination of eSight and Netilion not only provides us with deep insights into our processes and resulting energy consumption, along with the means to optimize it, but also may help us achieve our sustainability goals.”
After its success in Switzerland, there are plans to expand the energy monitoring system utilising Netilion to Endress+Hauser production facilities in India, China and France. And in light of the Group’s commitment to not only achieve its own sustainability targets but help customers do the same, high value will continue to be placed on accurate energy monitoring and digital networking of measurement technology for data transparency.
For more information on Endress+Hauser’s energy management strategies visit here
Endress+Hauser is committed to helping its customers achieve real-time accurate measurements and take control of their processes. Find out how you can begin to unlock the potential of your assets here www.smarter-decisions.co.uk
Endress+Hauser UK
- +44 161 286 5000
- info@uk.endress.com
- https://www.uk.endress.com
- Floats Road Manchester M23 9NF GB
About us
A strong partner worldwide
Endress+Hauser is a global leader in measurement instrumentation, services and solutions for industrial process engineering. We provide process solutions for flow, level, pressure, analytics, temperature, recording and digital communications, optimising processes in terms of economic efficiency, safety and environmental impact. Our customers come from various industries, including chemical, food & beverage, life sciences, power & energy, primaries & metal, oil & gas and water & wastewater.
Benefits
- Net sales of 2.4 billion euros – a strong partner
- More than 13,900 employees worldwide – a reliable employer
- Equity ratio of 71% – solidly financed
- Continuous annual investments of approximately 160 million euros – future-oriented
- Nearly 7,800 patents and patent applications – innovative and creative
Where we supply to
UK Ireland, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, North America
Industries we supply to
Automation, Chemicals, Consultants, Components Electronics, Energy and Power, Food and Beverage, Glass Ceramics Cement, Metals and Minerals, OEM, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Plastics and Rubber, Recycling, Textiles, Tobacco, Water and Wastewater
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