Product category:
Work-in-progress tracking software
News Release from: GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK | Subject: CIMPLICITY control and monitoring software
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 May 2002
Software reduces energy costs for cable
maker
The manufacture of cables requires a significant amount of energy and a Swiss manufacturer substantially reduced its costs by applying the latest energy management software.
The manufacture of cables requires a significant amount of energy By using GE Fanuc's CIMPLICITY software, the Swiss cable manufacturer Nexans has managed to substantially reduce electricity costs
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 18 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
GE Fanuc supervisory control software is advanced
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has launched its Proficy HMI/SCADA iFIX 5.0 which features 'next-generation' visualisation and real-time information management.
Decision making based on real time factory data
Proficy Real-Time Information Portal 3.0 Manufacturing Intelligence Application provides users with business insight from plant data in real time.
Founded in 1879, Nexans is the market leader in the European cable industry.
Nexans manufactures cables and accessories for high-, medium- and low-voltage applications, wire for domestic installations, and special application cables.
The copper and optical fibre cables are delivered to various industries such as public utilities, telecommunications, railways and automotive.
Further reading
Software links maintenance and production
Maintenance Gateway software closes the loop between production and maintenance systems to improve asset reliability, reduce failure rates and increase production uptime.
Management software drives factory performance
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms said that the latest version of its Proficy Plant Applications v4.4 production management software improves factories' ability to drive performance.
Control panels have integrated communications
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has introduced its QuickPanel View control panels with integrated communications connecting to virtually any device in the world.
The production of theses cables requires a considerable energy input, mainly in the form of electrical power.
At the Nexans headquarters in Cortaillod for instance, the energy consumption reached 17.3 gigawatt hours in 2001.
Varying energy cost - Nexans draws its electricity from a local provider, with cost per kilowatt depending on the quantity supplied.
Each month, the maximum duty 15 minutes are used to determine the peak load tariff.
In peak times, the power consumption is around 4300kW.
A breakdown analysis showed that these peak load costs made up for 30% of the overall electricity cost.
As a consequence, Nexans started a project to level-out these peak loads and to achieve greater continuity of energy consumption.
Involving specialists - in order to work out and implement an appropriate solution, Nexans turned to the specialists from Nemotek Energy, a system integrator specialising in the field of industrial building management.
The Nemotek engineers have developed a standard instrument for saving energy costs which can be individually adapted to customer specifications.
This instrument is based on GE Fanuc's CIMPLICITY control and monitoring software.
When asked about this software, Marc Chapatte from Nemotek replied: "CIMPLICITY's openness gives us a great deal of flexibility.
And in our job, this is particularly important, as we often have to integrate various individual solutions into a global concept." The functionality of the software combined with Nemotek's know-how enables business companies to significantly reduce their energy cost.
With only electricity cost optimised, the return of investment is ensured within 2 or 3 years.
A subsequent system extension, e g to water consumption, is possible without major investment.
At Nexans, all the electrical meters in the manufacturing units are automatically captured by the Nemotek system, thus enabling a detailed analytical accounting and breakdown of electricity cost.
Following a detailed review of the machinery, the 7 buildings on the 920-acre site and the power consumption, Nemotek developed a customised concept for Nexans.
The building management concept - the analysis showed that peak consumption times were mainly between 11am and noon.
This corresponds to the time when machines are running at full capacity which in turn is due to the fact that machine set up is very time-consuming.
To reduce the peaks without altering production, other power consumption would have to be disabled during peak consumption periods.
This includes heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, the waste cable shredder, the circulating water pump, and the heat exchangers.
And this is where the control concept comes in.
A GE Fanuc Series 90-30 PLC with 32 digital inputs and 27 digital outputs captures data from Genius I/O modules, with communication between the I/O level and the PLC handled via a GE Fanuc Genius bus.
The inputs record the energy meter pulses/readings and the outputs control the current regulators.
The PLC data is passed to the PC running the CIMPLICITY software via serial communication (using the proprietary GE Fanuc SNPX protocol).
Altogether, 450 data points are captured in this application.
As real-time information is not required, the system uses cost-efficient serial communication.
The current consumption is measured in intervals of 15 minutes and then checked against a threshold value specified in the software.
Whenever this limit is exceeded, other power consumers can be disabled automatically, with priorities and offline limits for each device ensuring that the overall plant operation is not interfered with.
Increased productivity - after one year with the new building management concept, the benefits of the system are available in figures.
According to Yves Ruedin, Maintenance and Servicing Manager at Nexans, "The Nemotek concept and CIMPLICITY have enabled us to reduce electricity cost by almost 10%".
The management at Nexans is now considering integrating every single machine into the concept. Request a free brochure from GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK ...
• GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
