2011: the year of integration, visibility and energy management

Schneider Electric
By Scott Wooldridge
Tuesday, 12 April, 2011


In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, improving outputs and increasing productivity is a key organisational priority. That means the focus for most industries in 2011 and beyond will be to improve processes and efficiencies, and wherever possible, automate.

Before organisations can take these steps, it is crucial they have total visibility of operational processes - and it is more critical than ever that organisations take a broader view and identify opportunities to improve efficiencies across the entire enterprise.

While some industries are happy to embrace new technology and ways of working, many organisations are concerned about the capital costs associated with investment in technology. However, integrating technology doesn’t necessarily mean overhauling legacy systems.

The need for an integrated approach

True interoperability of components - which enables organisations to quickly and accurately manage data - is an effective route to achieving visibility and optimising performance. By integrating hardware and software components throughout the plant to deliver a complete process management solution, organisations are also able to optimise energy use and drive maximum efficiency within their operations, while also improving productivity. The challenge will remain in getting the right balance between new investments to optimise performance and getting ‘bang for buck’ through the optimisation of legacy systems.

Visibility of energy-efficiency processes and machines

The rising costs of energy in Australia and across the world are well reported and will continue to be a significant challenge for organisations and individuals throughout 2011. Organisations now have a commercial incentive to save energy through efficient installation, optimised devices, automation, monitoring and rigorous maintenance, all of which can deliver significant energy reductions.

However, many industries are still reluctant to reduce their carbon footprint and make investments in new technologies until a price on carbon and wider government policy have been agreed. This is particularly prevalent among second- and third-tier mining, food and beverage and wastewater organisations.

But organisations cannot afford to wait. In the absence of clear policy, all organisations can and should take the first steps of monitoring and measuring energy consumption. With investment in optimisation, monitoring and measurement, energy savings of 30% and more are achievable. This means that in many cases, the capital investment payback period is around three years. There is a clear commercial benefit to improving energy efficiency and escalating energy costs will further shorten the payback period.

The influence of a Gen Y workforce

The industrial workforce is also changing and becoming more tech savvy, and with this we are likely to see some interesting trends. Customer feedback has shown that generational differences may start to play an increasing role in influencing business processes and decisions.

As the Facebook and Twitter generations (generations Y and Z) become key members of the workforce, interoperability will become even more important, as handheld devices are increasingly used remotely to interact with systems. Real-time information, accessibility and connectivity are demanded by these generations, potentially shaping and ultimately changing the automation landscape for industry.

About the author:
Scott Wooldridge was appointed Schneider Electric’s Vice President - Industry in 2010, having been with Citect since 1997. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from University of Tasmania and an MBA from Hull University in the United Kingdom.

  

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