March 12, 2012 - Flakeboard , an industry leader in the production of quality composite wood panels, needed a system to facilitate the analysis and allocation of energy costs for each mill. “We knew how much we were spending on energy overall, but it was deemed important to be able to understand the breakdown of the energy used by each of the mill’s production lines to determine a cost per unit.” said Electrical Systems Coordinator, Pat Burke . Flakeboard decided to implement a long-term energy-savings program. This involved an Energy audit, implementation design, and the use of Energy Management software which includes Exele TopView for real-time monitoring and notification.
The resulting Energy Management Information System showed the detailed energy targets for each of the mill line’s in near “Real Time” and identifies savings and losses in both dollars and energy units. The RtEMIS software is used to show the day-to-day energy consumption and the percentage of the target reached as well as the cost and cumulative savings. HMI screens in the facility receives messages when data quality issues arise or a process has exceeded their preset energy thresholds. Messages are also emailed to the appropriate managers so that corrective action can be taken. Flakeboard has experienced a savings in energy costs of $260,000 in a 12 month period and continues to work to improve efficiencies.