The Challenge
A textile machinery manufacturer with six production lines paid approximately ₹45 lakhs per month in electricity. The billing data was available; the machine-level breakdown was not. Energy audits had been conducted twice, both producing recommendations at the line level rather than the machine level.
When sub-metering was finally installed at machine level, the distribution was unexpected. Three machines — two large surface grinders and one heat treatment oven — accounted for 38% of total consumption. The oven was running at full power for a 20-hour cycle even though the actual heat soak required only 4 hours; the remaining 16 hours were waste from an outdated temperature profile copied from a predecessor machine and never reviewed. The grinders were running continuously throughout each shift, even during setup and material handling.
What Changed
Machine-level power monitoring with continuous consumption tracking, shift-wise breakdown, and anomaly alerts for machines drawing power outside their production windows.
The heat treatment oven's temperature profile was corrected and automatic motor shutdowns were implemented on the grinders during non-cutting periods. Within six weeks, energy consumption had dropped 21% with no reduction in throughput. The monitoring system made the investment case for two VFD retrofits self-evident — they had previously been declined because the line-level data didn't show adequate payback.
Results
38% of total consumption
oven temperature profile corrected
~180 kWh/day recovered
₹9.6 lakhs/month saving
“Energy audits at line level find line-level opportunities. The largest single opportunities — machines with outsized consumption relative to their output — are invisible without machine-level data. When you can see every machine's electricity draw in real time, the audit writes itself.”