Energy costs are a significant expense for companies. Over time even the best-designed systems can age and wear which can result in wasteful leaks. These leaks can impact companies’ bottom line and the environment. Considering this, a real-time compressed air monitoring system made perfect sense for a company intending to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Emerson’s Dana Greenly describes the partnership with Colgate Palmolive, the caring, innovative growth company that’s reimagining a healthier future in this Packaging World article, Air Flow Monitoring Supports Colgate-Palmolive’s Sustainability Initiatives.
“With a brand that is in more homes than any other, Colgate has the responsibility to find innovative solutions to sustainability challenges such as wasted energy. One of the main drivers of energy consumption in many of our plants is compressed air,” says Andres Bejarano, Colgate-Palmolive’s Global Technical Director for Home Care Products.
The company first piloted continuous compressed air monitoring on one toothbrush tufting machine in their South America production line. The project was a success which then led engineers to install monitoring systems on all tufting machines in their Brazil and Mexico packaging lines.
What’s at the center of this sustainability initiative?
The AVENTICS™ AF2 Smart Flow Sensor.
… the AF2 flow sensor monitors compressed air usage in real-time. Its calorimetric sensing cell accurately measures airflow, pressure, velocity, volume, and energy.
AVENTICS™ Series AF2 Sensor
Equipped with compressed air usage insights, Colgate has reported that the first machines
… have seen roughly a 15% reduction in compressed air usage. Similar or even greater savings as the AF2 rolls out more widely.
While Colgate already had a leak reduction program in place, they were missing
… insight into how much-compressed air a given machine really needs. “AF2 gave us a better understanding of how to match air supply and demand,” Bejarano says. “The system lets us see the peaks and valleys of our processes and not just rely on recommendations from our pneumatics suppliers.”
You can read the article to learn all about how IIoT-enabled sensors are helping the company to reduce wasteful energy use and improve its energy-saving efforts.
