Industrial Snowflakes

Recently, during a meeting with a cold storage provider, the client called their operation a “snowflake.” They were concerned that integrating their production systems would be too costly, since each facility is so unique. It’s true that getting to 100% data integration is a heavy lift. 

Fortunately, we already had APIs or integrations available for roughly 60-80% of their systems, including Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Refrigeration Control Systems (RCS), compressors, chillers, and other critical systems.

This is often the case, and it’s often a perfectly good place to start. The remaining systems can be integrated over time, or they may not be required at all, depending on how material they are to the measurement of Energy Intensity.

Energy Intensity is a measure of production-normalized energy performance (e.g. kWh/unit of product). We can use the measurement of Energy Intensity to drive value even for the most unique applications. Measuring the energy consumed by each step in the process helps to further disaggregate the results, but it’s not always necessary.

Classic energy management is done at the fence line, meter, or submeter. The most valuable insights often come from the production layer: the equipment that consumes a large amount of energy within the operation. It’s important to focus attention where value can be created quickly.

The Ndustrial team has spent years developing an integration library for the most critical systems in the cold chain. This has paid off, and we now process data for over 30% of the temperature-controlled US food system. Cold chain clients typically see payback periods of less than 12 months.

We can also handle many of the systems used in other energy-intensive industries like Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, Data Centers and Cryptocurrency Mining. These industries typically see payback periods of under 24 months.

In short, your operation may be special in many ways – but the energy it takes to run it is roughly the same across industries. Managing Energy and Carbon Intensity is very attainable – and financially rewarding – if you focus on the right things first.