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March 14, 2016 — LightRules Power from Digital Lumens enables users to extend the real-time energy-monitoring capabilities of LightRules beyond the lighting system to virtually all of the equipment in the facility.
Committed to operational excellence, Frank Tavares, global process engineer manager, Atlas Global Solutions, selected the LightRules Power upgrade as part of a facility expansion to the company’s Sutton, Mass., world headquarters. Atlas is a global provider of packaging solutions.
Based on insights developed using LightRules Power, Tavares modified production schedules and optimized the use of existing equipment, thereby eliminating bottlenecks, increasing line productivity by 20 percent, saving 75 percent in lighting energy, and avoiding purchase of a $250,000 piece of CNC equipment, all while ensuring worker engagement and safety.
Additionally, detailed data from LightRules Power, at the sub-meter level, provided the breakdown of electricity use that Tavares needed for accurate cost allocation and equipment utilization reporting, both of which had not been possible prior to the deployment.
Atlas had faced bottlenecks on its production line, and line workers were requesting purchase of an additional piece of expensive capital equipment, a new CNC Router, to solve the issue. Because the bottlenecks were sporadic and information about the loss in productivity was anecdotal, Tavares wanted to gain detailed insight into the use of existing equipment and identify actual usage trends.
The typical method for determining such trends is a manual time study, which is labor intensive and prone to error. Tavares recognized, however, that energy use is a common variable that can tie together the different types of production machinery and serve as a proxy for tracking equipment use and line productivity.
Following the installation of LightRules Power, Tavares was able to accurately monitor the energy consumption and use of capital equipment and better identify periods of inactivity throughout the facility.
