The playbook for inputs

Background

Inputs are where noise flows into a process. Noise starts with the skin of a building and layout, then moves to processes and maintenance. This perspective helps to isolate, identify and prioritize noise reduction. The challenge is to shift focus from end-of-process solutions for effects to pre-process cause management.

You can scope the cost of noise using a “rough order of magnitude” calculation. A rough order of magnitude calculation is an estimate. The reason for understanding the impact of noise is to uncover that impact on gross margin (GM). Because a GM is typically less than the sum of variable costs used as a measurement for the cost of production (COP), a relationship exists where COP cost reductions translate into a correspondingly higher impact on GM.

The next level of assessment is to estimate the relative proportion of waste in your inputs. This requires another best guess on waste factors for those inputs, then to calculate these as non-productive costs or noise. These are assumptions that are tested, adjusted and corrected as the variables (noise) are identified, measured and steps are taken to eliminate the variables. This is the same as setting up a science experiment.

The challenge for processors is that noise embedded in inputs has a continuous, complex and increasing impact across processes and outputs.

Input noise becomes a financial cost in processing. Input noise is also a cost variable for non-productive outputs (waste) where the cost of unnecessary inputs are added to the cost of solid and organic waste. The assumption for what the rough order of magnitude is, is a best guess. Benchmarks for these numbers are often closely guarded and proprietary. There are, however, some publicly available resources that have published some benchmarks based upon their access to aggregated audits. These include some of the work which the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters published on manufacturing energy performance and the technically feasible solutions. Other benchmarks, such as labour waste suggest as much as 20% of production labour is wasted due to things like excessive touchpoints and handling, unplanned downtime and rework.

What experts say and studies show is that 10–30% of this noise may be avoided with foundational technologies that target input noise. These are variables that are best avoided before investing in new processing technology or end-of-process/circular investments.

What follows is a hypothetical example of the scale of variables in inputs and the rough order of magnitude of variable control. It is important to keep in mind that this set of variables represent a holistic approach to technology adoption assessments. Omitting these variables in a technology adoption process because they may overlook payback justification and risk embedding variables in process and output projects. According to the Bloom Centre for Sustainability, a holistic approach to project assessment found double the payback over a single criteria assessment for the same project.

Capturing as many variables as possible improves outcomes for projects over single variable assessments. When the issues such as the cost of or availability of labour drive a need for automation, the ability to align all the other COP variables in the same direction as labour is a critical component to ensure that the solution to one problem does not hasten the emergence of others.

Table 7 is a hypothetical example and uses conservative estimates based on real world examples. The example is a gauge based on benchmarks from various sources including Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, United States Department of Agriculture, Provision Coalition, Bloom and Stats Canada. Actual individual facility waste levels will differ. This is the noise that exists in manufacturing processes. Automation and circular recovery or upscaling co-products will drive COP down further.

Problem 1: cybersecurity

Cyberattacks generally begin with phishing that embed programs through the internet to extract customer data, financial information, operating system information, passwords and names, as well as install ransomware that can lock you out of your computer programs and control equipment. The average ransom demand in Canada was nearly $150,000 in 2020, took 23 hours to resolve and resulted in the failure of 60% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that were affected (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2021).

According to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, cyber incidents have increased 600% in 2021. It is no longer a matter of if a cybersecurity issue will occur, but when.

Solutions

The solution involves:

• familiarizing yourself with your risks and needs. Dynatrace provides awareness training to SMEs in agriculture and the food and beverage sectors of Ontario. This step will help you address the scope of the solutions you will need.
• engaging a monitoring and incidence response service provider. The Herjavec Group and Arctic Wolf Networks are two globally recognized and Ontario-based service providers.
• installing cybersecurity technology. Your monitoring and incidence response providers can provide you with recommendations.

Problem 2: maintenance

The term “maintenance” is used to refer to both routine equipment maintenance and equipment replacement. Maintenance impacts input noise. How well this department stays ahead of leaks and equipment failure will determine how large an impact noise makes on your bottom line.

Solutions

Map your facility

A digital map of your facility that includes every motor and piece of equipment, sorted by processing line, utility input points and processing step makes pro-active maintenance easier. McMaster’s School of Engineering has a program which can help you do this. Contact wbooth@mcmaster.ca to coordinate your participation in this program. The mapping exercise should include:

• manufacturers’ equipment manuals for all equipment
• line speed based on manufacturers’ specifications
• expected electricity, water and steam use of specified equipment
• actual performance of equipment

Include maintenance, operations and product costing personnel in the project. Variance from manufacturing specifications is an indication that maintenance and repair is required.

Operational equipment efficiency consultants compare actual line speed to manufacturer specifications. This exercise exposes mal-aligned equipment. Sometimes repairs were done to just get a machine running. Sometimes line speeds got turned down and forgotten. Sometimes line speeds are turned up and create a bottleneck elsewhere. Each of these possibilities result in downstream costs that can be corrected.

Digital mapping is a foundational step that can be used to help you locate, measure and eliminate the sources of noise in your processes to:

• identify and prioritize sub-metering locations
• identify processes at greatest risk of power quality events
• support a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Plan
• identify priority equipment in your monthly maintenance schedule
• support takt time exercises
• point to discrete utility loads on specific processes for more accurate product costing models

Invest in leak detection equipment

Hand-held ultrasonic and thermal imaging monitors enable maintenance staff to detect leaks. In a year, a pinhole leak in a compressed air line can waste $2,000 worth of electricity, a failed stream trap can leak $1,000 worth of heat and a drippy faucet will waste $300 worth of water and add the same in wastewater costs. Hand-held monitors cost between $500 and $25,000. Higher-priced equipment has had single-use payback in large facilities.

Prioritize leak-fixing

It is one thing to identify leaks and another to fix them. Where leak-fixing is a routine and integrated monitoring systems can measure that impact, performance is transparent. Maintenance KPIs might include the numerical reduction of leaks, utility costs savings and the greenhouse gas impact of the efficiency. This includes the aerosolized sealing of ductwork to improve the efficiency of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Create a RCM plan

RCM is the process used to determine what must be done to ensure that physical assets continue to do what users want them to do in their present operating context. The process addresses:

• the functions and associated performance standards of assets in their present operating context
• the ways assets fail to fulfill their present functions
• the causes of each function failure
• what happens when each failure occurs
• the consequences of each failure
• how to predict or prevent each failure
• what should be done if a suitable proactive task cannot be found

An RCM process requires the company to decide which assets are most likely to benefit from the RCM process and how the production facility will benefit, as well as the resources needed to do the analysis. This requires an asset list and functional process block diagram (a digital map) with a registry and hierarchy. Then a review group is established with a cross functional team. Often, this includes a:

• facilitator
• engineer
• trades person
• operator
• supervisor
• external specialist

The goals of an RCM process are:

• improved safety and environmental integrity
• improved operating performance
• greater maintenance cost effectiveness
• longer useful asset life of expensive equipment
• a comprehensive, transparent and accessible data base of equipment (which is crucial where labour force churn and key employee absences occur)
• engagement and motivation of staff, and better teamwork

Practice sensory audits

Human senses are effective tools. It is normal for a person who works in a facility to develop sensory fatigue and block out the sounds, smells and visual clues that surround them. The intentional use of one’s sensory organs when walking through a facility improves with practice.

Some signs of issues include:

• the whine of a motor foreshadowing its breakdown
• the hiss of an air leak
• hot and cold draughts suggesting air circulation issues
• a wet floor suggesting a leak and being a slipping hazard

Replace damaged motors and steam traps with new equipment

It is a false economy to re-wire failed motors. A balanced, re-wired motor will cost less to buy than a new motor but won’t but will cost you more to run. The capital cost of a factory-tested motor is around 10% of the lifetime cost of owning and running that motor. At best, re-wired motors are returned to service at the same performance level they were just prior to failure and will fail again. Re-wired motors use 10–25% more electricity than new balanced, factory-tested motors.

Consider steam trap and equipment monitoring services

Everactive, a US-based energy efficiency company, has developed wireless, self-powered steam trap and equipment monitoring devices. These devices continuously monitor equipment and sense steam trap failure and motor degradation.

Larger facilities with combined gas and electricity costs over $400,000 per year might consider this service. Large motors are a major problem when they fail, as it can take three days to a week to replace them. Where motor failures result in extended downtime, the cost of noise rises. The ability to fix steam leaks as they occur and replace large motors before they fail is a proactive noise avoidance strategy.

Consider an active air purification system

There is at least one active air purification system currently commercially available that provides up to a 99% reduction of bacteria and viruses within the COVID‑19 worker spacing radius.

Problem 3: facility design flaws

Facility design drives operating costs. Air balance, what’s on the roof and ergonomic design all matter. Deficiencies in these three areas cost some money to fix and have a 6 to 24-month simple payback.

Design flaw 1: air balance

How air is designed to move through a temperature-controlled building may increase energy use by $1.00/ft², reducing refrigeration efficiency and increasing heating costs. Loading bays and heated rooms where airflow to cooled rooms (or vice-versa) is uncontained make temperature control and refrigeration work harder. It is not just the temperature difference between heating and cooling, but also humidity can increase energy loads for refrigeration up to 15%.

Solutions

Solutions to this design flaw include:

• auditing and correcting air flow
• installing air curtains
• installing seals on loading bay doors
• keeping loading bay, exterior and refrigerated storage room doors closed when not in use
• de-humidifying fresh, make-up air for refrigerated and air-conditioned space
• de-humidifying freezers

Design flaw 2: air stratification

High ceilings trap hot air. This is a problem for air conditioned, refrigerated and heated buildings.

In air-conditioned facilities there is no best thermostat location. In refrigerated facilities air stratification will increase condensation that freezes and reduces refrigeration efficiency. In heated buildings air stratification increases heating load as heat collects above the working floor.

The solution to this issue is to install large ceiling fans to recirculate air and maintain even air temperatures within a building cube.

Design flaw 3: roof characteristics

Rooftop air conditioning unit efficiency is affected by ambient temperature. Every 1°C rise in temperature over 25°C reduces a rooftop air conditioning unit’s efficiency by 2–3%. In the late spring, summer and early fall rooftop temperatures often rise over 40°C. The colour of your roof also matters. A black roof can reach 75°C. A gray roof will be around 40°C and a Smart Blue Roof 25°C. Rooftop temperatures increase convective heat transfer which increases air exchange costs. This is a particular problem for refrigerated warehouses, climate-controlled processing facilities and bakeries. Interference from rooftop heat increases refrigeration costs in the summer. Similarly, rooftop heat increases internal heat loads from ovens, dryers and fryers.

A Smart Blue Roof goes a step further. This type of retrofit stores stormwater on the roof during the summer to keep rooftop temperatures down. These projects have been incorporated into stormwater management plans. Where municipalities charge for stormwater management, this technology has reduced those costs.

Solutions

Solutions to issues with roof characteristics include:

• bringing air conditioning units to ground level or inside
• changing the colour of your roof the next time it needs work:
  • from grey to Smart Blue (reduces rooftop temperatures up to 40%)
  • from black to grey or white (reduces rooftop temperatures up to 45%)
  • from black to Smart Blue (reduces rooftop temperatures up to 65%)
• installing heat exhaust fans between the ceiling and built-in freezer or refrigerated rooms

Design flaw 4: ergonomics

How people and products move in a facility makes a difference in labour productivity. Every time people involved with product flow cross paths in the workplace workers involved in that flow may stop. The number of steps (paces) a worker takes between workstations also affects the time it takes to do a task. Ergonomic product flow can reduce labour inputs per unit of output 2–10%.

A solution would be to make the plant layout from receiving to storage, to work in progress, to storage and shipping flow without crossing. Use conveyors to reduce worker handling and design workstations to limit the need to reach and step across the floor. Workstation alterations can often be done over a weekend, others need to wait until the next upgrade.

Ergonomic adjustments change worker behavior. It is not uncommon for long-term workers who have stood in the same place for years to need some time to adjust to a new position that may only be one or two steps from where they were used to working. This is a muscle and visual memory reaction on the worker’s part. They may need one to three weeks to fully adapt to a new starting point. This behavioral phenomenon tends only to affect the moment of productivity needed to re-orient to their new position.

Problem 4: leaks

Leaks are or become invisible. Sometimes this is because of operator sensory fatigue or workforce replacement and sometimes leaks avoid detection. Leaks obscure your process efficiency performance and add up over a year. Awareness and timely maintenance can avoid thousands of dollars per month of unnecessary costs. Done manually, this is a non-capital practice with a 6 to 10-month payback. Investing in a few tools will double your leak elimination when you also fix them. Identifying and fixing leaks is a project priority that should precede an activity-based costing exercise.

Solutions

Solutions 1 through 5 are best management practices (BMPs), Solutions 6 through 9 require a modest amount of capital and Solution 10 is a possible service agreement option for energy-intensive businesses.

Check how well your facility rests

After a production shift, when processing equipment is supposed to be turned off, check to see that everything is turned off, including water lines, compressed air and motors. Start-up and shut-down operator procedures require follow up.

Practice walk-through sensory audits

If you can see water leaks on the floor, hear unbalanced motors and large air leaks and feel temperature changes where they are not supposed to occur, take note of them and fix them.

Map the utility use

Map the utility use in combination with your workstation touchpoints. Audit utility use. Make an inventory using the technical specifications from your equipment manuals of compressed air loads, water use and electricity demand throughout your facility. McMaster’s School of Engineering and Mohawk College have programs that engage their students who can help you do this. While this type of project is going on, you may find a potential employee or co-op student.

The same student(s) who undertook the mapping exercise could be called back for a co-op term to calculate your expected cost of production and compare that to your actual costs. Where variances exceed 20%, you can be assured your product costing models are unreliable.

Join a peer-to-peer working group

Working groups include the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC) or Partners in Project Green’s Energy Leaders Consortium. Peer-to-peer activities will give your key energy directives and production management leaders an edge on how to address input and process efficiency challenges. EMC also has an energy buying group.

Practice regular leak detection and develop guidelines

Spend time with your maintenance crew. Ask for their input on how to make leak avoidance a priority and what kind of performance measurements they can manage themselves. Get them the tools and training they need to perform their role.

Some of the performance measurement opportunities include:

• the reduction of unplanned downtime
• energy and water use efficiency improvement
• process efficiency improvement

Invest in leak detection equipment

Hand-held thermal imaging equipment is useful for spotting air and steam leaks that are invisible to the human eye. Models range in cost from $400 to $25,000.

The process for leak detection and correction requires you to:

1. detect the leaks during production
2. fix the leaks (a pinhole in an airline will cost $1,000 to $2,000 per year, the same is true for steam leaks and faulty steam traps)
3. repeat the exercise when your facility is idle
4. include this in your monthly operating procedures

Provide positive feedback to maintenance and other staff who participate in your leak reduction efforts

Recognize them as an integral part of the team. Provide context to this recognition by translating reduced downtime in terms of waste avoidance in tonnes, cost and carbon impact. Accepting staff suggestions, offering a cup of coffee, a modest gift card or corporate swag and verbal recognition can go a long way to building positive behavior across your organization.

Invest in real time monitoring equipment

An activity-based costing exercise needs true costs to be a useful exercise. Monitoring equipment, more specifically sub-meters for waterflow, gas use, compressed air use and the electricity use of processing line motors compliments takt time analysis.

Consider aerosolized sealing for air handling ducts

Duct leakage is the most expensive building fault. The combination of duct cleaning and aerosolized duct sealing will reduce air loss 20–70%. Airflow is measured at the diffuser (the duct outlet) and air exchange rates are based upon diffuser flow.

Consider a leak monitoring service

Battery-less load-sensing technology can be considered where a facility seeks to monitor steam trap and motor performance. This technology is particularly useful for preventative maintenance to catch steam leaks immediately and avoid unscheduled downtime due to motor failures. This technology can be digitally integrated to provide automated alerts that reduce the time it takes to find and assess leaks. Your maintenance staff will still use their handheld leak detection equipment to pinpoint the problem.

Problem 5: lighting

Lights use active power, which has an impact on your electricity use. Conventional lighting often represents 10–20% of the electrical load in a food processing facility. The rest of the electrical load is mostly reactive power for motors. Well-lit workplaces have fewer worker accidents and is less inviting to rodents. Some considerations linked to the inter-activity of lighting systems to cost control include:

• Translucent, incandescent, mercury vapor and high-density sodium lighting cost more to use than LEDs. These light sources also degrade quickly.
• Incandescent lights can increase room temperature by 2°C, high density sodium or mercury vapor lights can increase room temperature by 4°C and fluorescent lights can cause an increase around 1°C. These amounts can increase as these lights degrade and lose their lighting capacity.
• Pay attention to harmonic distortion that can occur on long lighting circuits. Harmonic distortion affects the efficiency of motors
• Conventional lighting adds an additional 1–2% to cooling and refrigeration loads.
• Where reactive power loads (electric motor) exceed 60% of electrical use, a reduction of lighting electricity use will worsen power factor (PF) efficiency.
• Lighting in a building contributes to peak energy demand which can add 5–10% to your overall electricity bill.
• LEDs have better heat and cold tolerance performance than other lighting and they last longer requiring less maintenance.
• The linkage between lighting and worker safety can be tracked through Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) premium performance. Fewer accidents mean lower WSIB rates.
• Lighting retrofits may also affect PF and power quality.

Problem 6: utility performance

Utility performance is the most prominent noise. It is either a proof of productivity or a cost control problem. Unfortunately for most facilities, it tends to be a cost control problem more frequently.

The equipment used in today’s factories is different than what was available even 40 years ago. The relationship between energy use and increased productivity exists because of today’s technology. Historically, it took a 2% increase in energy to increase productivity by 1%. Automation increases energy use. Hydro, water, sewer and gas utilities are inter-related in a food processing facility.

Labour savings opportunities drive automation. Automation increases energy (and often water) in food plants at a 2:1 ratio (% energy use to % productivity). Without controls energy and water use accelerates faster than productivity. The cost of energy is also more volatile than labour, making energy efficiency difficult to justify when prices decline, and volumetric savings impossible to reflect in product costing models when prices increase. Similarly, municipalities have had a habit of pricing water to industry as a proportion of their cost of operating the water system. When industrial water volume declines, the price to industry increases.

Utilities have underlying costs of service driven by both volume and time of use. Historically, utility conservation programs reduce the volume of use with insufficient focus on the time of use which drives the cost of these services. When a utility has reduced volume and most of the reduced use erodes their lowest cost of service demand times, their costs increase. This leads to utility cost of service increases that get passed on to their customers. Time of use premiums and surcharges, as well as global adjustment costs for electricity and wastewater surcharges all stem, at least in part, from imbalanced demand.

Active utility use management with an Energy Management Information System (EMIS) and sub-metering will improve your to proactively manage utility costs associated with inefficient or excessive utility use. This includes validating data to qualify for sewer use rebates, electricity peak shaving, utility program efficiency report, predictive maintenance scheduling and leak detection. Utility performance has operational impacts that affect the bottom line. This is avoidable noise that takes skills, tools and training to manage.

Half of the energy used in food processing is wasted. It disappears into the atmosphere, as friction, as audible noise or down the drain. Some of the time energy and/or water use causes a chain of additional utility use. This is the case when humidity is out of control, line speeds are unbalanced and unplanned down time due to equipment failure happens with short utility outages.

A baseline map that shows how much labour, energy and water are used and where and when in a facility, it will pinpoint the variance as daily, weekly or monthly. These identified variances are the noise you want to eliminate.

Sometimes performance is better than expected. The ability to follow up on benefits is also enabled by tracking this same data.

Solutions

Hire a Certified Energy Manager (CEM)

A CEM can lead your utility efficiency efforts, contribute to new equipment purchase screening, contribute to product costing model development and help refine the KPIs your facility needs to address to eliminate noise. The business case for this position includes 20% of your baseline utility costs and half of your unscheduled downtime costs. The ongoing justification for this position is the elimination of the return of utility use 2 or 3 years after an efficiency project is started.

Ensure Canadian power standards are specified when purchasing equipment

European motors are designed to 50 Hz. Canadian and American motors work on 60 Hz. American-made transformers are designed with the reverse polarity of Canadian-made transformers. Integrating and commissioning foreign-made equipment that does not meet Canadian electrical guidelines will result in equipment failure and in the case of transformer connections, catastrophic failures that may take weeks to repair and replace.

Install integrated metering

EMISs:

• validate noise removal
• provide an early warning system for motor failure
• can provide real data for product costing models by process and by line
• provide verifiable utility use data for new capital project proposals

The hardware and software are often eligible expenses with utility and process productivity grant programs.

Install sub-meters that are linked to zones, key equipment and processing lines

Lighting in warehouses versus processing lines and office space, compressors, water, motors on processing lines, wastewater flow and boilers all bear scrutiny. Understanding utility use by major equipment piece, by facility zone and by processing line separates true costs for product costing models and provides a performance measurement that can be traced back to user responsibility.

Sub-meters pinpoint the cost of human error (when equipment is left on unnecessarily and when maintenance is overlooked). This is often 20% of your overall utility bill. There are zones, equipment and functions where sub-metering support cost control, including

• warehouse lighting, processing floor lighting, shipping zone, yard and office lighting
• process line (this includes individual motors on process line equipment, steam and water use) and office plug loads
• boiler natural gas, water and electricity loads
• compressor electricity loads by equipment piece
• air handling equipment
• sanitation water use
• recharge stations for tow motors

The ability to understand how well a facility rests, how well significant utility-using systems are performing, what the integrated cost of unscheduled downtime really is and where significant utility use occurs in a facility are all pre-conditions that affect productivity.

Develop KPIs that reflect linked impacts

Utility use per unit of output or throughput becomes a powerful cost control tool when the performance standards are clarified for the people that are responsible for use. These may include:

• sanitation water use. Sanitation cycles have doubled in many facilities. Tracking this use is linked to hot water demand and wastewater discharge. Sanitation water use has shown as much as a 300% variance between days in some facilities
• compressor energy use. This is a monitoring strategy that indicates the effectiveness of leak control and motor efficiency
• process line utility performance per unit of output

As you address noise there are likely more KPIs you will develop.

Address power quality (PQ)

PQ is the root cause of most unplanned downtime.

The flow of electricity from the grid, across your transformer and through your facility is more complex than a simple on/off switch. To explain this in simple terms, the electricity (also known as power) is a stream of electrons that move from an electricity generation station to your transformer. The distribution system is regulated to maintain a constant stream of electrons based on a 60-second average. That stream fluctuates as users draw power into their facilities through their transformers.

This flow of electrons is maintained based on:

• pressure, known as voltage
• volume, known as amperage

A third factor is the 60 Hz waveform (wavelength or cycle) upon which Ontario’s electricity moves.

As electricity users draw power into their facilities through their transformers, the pressure and voltage fluctuate. Most of the time that fluctuation is around 9%. Sometimes demand is increased or decreased rapidly as users along the local distribution line raise or lower their use. Variation in use on a local distribution line can cause the electron pressure and volume to sag or swell. Sometimes lightning strikes close to a power line will swell the electron load. Sag and swell can impact the equipment on your side of your transformer. However, the distribution system’s performance standard is not the same as the performance requirements on your side of your transformer.

The grid responsibility for the flow of electrons ends at your transformer. How your facility affects the flow of electrons and how your electrical equipment reacts to the flow of electrons is your responsibility. What occurs in your facility does affect the pressure, volume and waveform of electricity. Some examples include:

• poor PF control increasing the resistance of electron flow into your facility and amplifying a sag or swell
• computerized circuits, now on most pieces of equipment, reacting to 50 nanosecond intervals (50 billionths of a second). This means billions of sags and swells could occur within the 60-second grid performance standard. Sags and swells trip computerized circuits, corrupt memory boards and turn off motors
• the configuration of electric-powered equipment distorting the waveform of electricity inside of your facility. This, too, can trip electrical circuits

It is common to see between 24 and 48 micro-outages per year. Aside from production loss, these outages cause unplanned downtime, motor failure and computer crashes. Micro-outages can idle labour, create waste, corrupt computers, increase maintenance costs and cause food safety events.

These costs vary based on the degree and type of automation in a facility, and the severity of an event. According to Schneider Electric, PQ controls will reduce electricity use 3–7%, as well as avoid the costly damage to equipment and unplanned downtime. PQ controls also support, but do not entirely replace, PF corrections.

Manage your PF and harmonics

PF is measured on electricity bills where transformers serve a demand greater than 50 kW. PF is a resistance measurement. Low PF increases the flow of electricity due to a barrier the same way kinetic energy in water increases when it is dammed. As dam height increases, there is more energy in the water flowing over the dam. In the case of PF, a lower PF represents a higher barrier (resistance) to flow and more electricity flows over the barrier. As PF decreases, more electricity is needed to get across your transformer. You pay for that resistance. A facility using 100,000 kWh per month, with a PF of 87 will pay for 8% more electricity than a facility with a PF of 90, which is the standard expectation for PF. When a facility improves its PF above 94, there can be a net reduction on the demand charge to reflect the improved performance. PF is managed with capacitors.

Lighting upgrades can also affect PF. A typical food processing facility will use 10–20% of its overall electricity demand for lighting. LED lighting upgrades can reduce the lighting load by 60%. These lighting upgrades may also produce noise. The unintended consequence is a reduction in PF. Long lighting courses may also affect your electricity quality via harmonics. Harmonic distortion may affect the efficiency of motors. Ensure harmonics and induction controls are addressed with lighting retrofits.

Standardize equipment air pressure

Compressed air is the most intensive use of electricity in a facility. Only 10% of the electricity used by a screw compressor is directly converted into compressed air, while the rest is heat and noise. Air compressors are also motors, which consume power at a rate of 4:1, meaning a 4% increase in electrical use occurs for every 1% increase in speed (or pressure).

Install variable speed drives (VSDs) or variable frequency drives (VFDs) on large motors

Motors greater than 5 hp that run continuously and 10 hp that run intermittently will use around 20% less electricity when fitted with VSDs/VFDs. The variable speed fittings also last longer, theoretically requiring less maintenance.

Integrate passive energy design

Let gravity work for you. Wherever possible design conveyors and processing lines on a slight decline to minimize the motor power required to move products across a shop floor or down aisles in a storage rack.

Material that moves upward tends to clump, fall back and spill. Spillage is a waste problem. While guarding on an upgrade may hold materials in place, it may also create product damage. Passive energy design reduces energy use, product damage and waste and may reduce safety risks to labour.

Solutions (capital investments with under 2-year simple payback):

• Retrofit your lighting systems to LED to reduce lighting loads by half, make sure you address harmonics and PF lest the energy you save with lighting gets wasted through lower motor performance
• Install motion sensing lighting in low traffic areas.
• Install time-of-use switching timed to ensure unnecessary lights are not left on all weekend (2 days equals 28% of a week) or when the plant is not running.
• Identify and correct lighting harmonics. Poor harmonics ruin lighting ballasts.
• Install capacitors to correct PF issues.
• Use the IESO’s energy conservation program for these upgrades.
• Implement aerosolized duct sealing.