Energy and maintenance management systems in the context of industry 4.0. Implementation in a real case

Abstract

Industry 4.0 facilities and organization structures are used to improve energy efficiency and maintenance in industry. One of the challenges of Industry 4.0 is the urgent need to lower the consumption of energy, water and raw materials, as well as to ensure the safe and reliable running of a plant and reduce maintenance costs. The work presented herein proposes the low cost integration of Energy Management Systems (EMS) and Maintenance Management Systems (MMS) within the main management systems of a company, formed by organization appliances such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Distributed Control Systems (DCS) or Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), The proposal has the virtue of introducing maintenance and energy saving in the company agenda. A central role in such integration is played by the generalized use of network analyzers in electric machinery; the information gained from these network analyzers is not only interesting for ascertaining energy consumption, but also for understanding the real operating conditions of the machinery, identifying premature failures or abnormal behavior. Dramatic reductions (about 50%) in energy consumption and required maintenance inspections, as well as the extension of piece replacement time, are achieved at a reasonable cost. The proposed measures have been implemented by a multinational corporation, owners of a chemical plant located in El Palmar (Murcia-Spain).