You are paying for demand your plant never used.

Your bill, line by line

Textile: spinning, weaving and processing

Spinning mills run round the clock, so demand stays high and steady and small savings add up over 8,760 hours. Ring frames are the largest load, followed by compressed air and the humidification plant. Air-jet weaving leans heavily on compressors. Processing houses add stenters, dryers and large pumps.

• Energy per kg of yarn or per metre of fabric, every day, not once a month.
• Compressor and humidification plant energy on their own meters: they run whatever the output.
• Power factor on each department panel, since one failed APFC step shows on the whole mill.

Plastics: moulding, extrusion and blow moulding

Heater bands and hydraulic pumps keep drawing power while a machine waits for a mould change, a break or material. Chillers and dryers run beside them. Most of this is idle energy that the bill never shows separately.

• Running, idle and stopped time for each large machine, against shift timings.
• Energy per kg processed, per machine group.
• Chiller and compressor load at night, when no machine is running.

Steel: induction furnaces, rolling mills, sponge iron and foundries

An induction furnace is often the largest single load in the plant, and its melt cycle sets the month’s Maximum Demand. Holding metal at temperature, lid-open time and the charge mix move energy per tonne. Converters on these furnaces also affect power factor and harmonics on the supply.

In a rolling mill the stand motors take a sharp load each time a bar enters, and the reheating furnace’s blowers and pumps run whether the mill is rolling or waiting. Sponge iron plants run kilns, coolers, conveyors and large fans round the clock. In every case, delays and breakdowns show up as power drawn with no tonnes made.

• Demand interval by interval during each heat, so two furnaces are not started in the same window.
• Energy per tonne of liquid metal, rolled product or sponge iron, day by day.
• Mill idle time between bars and during delays, from the stand motor meters.
• Power factor and, where your meter reports it, harmonic distortion on furnace and mill feeders.

Cement plants and grinding units

Grinding takes most of a cement plant’s electricity: the raw mill, the coal mill and above all the cement mill, followed by the kiln drive, crushers and the large process fans. Standalone grinding units are almost all mill load, so they often run their mills hardest in off-peak hours and stop them in the evening peak. Starting two mills in the same interval can set the month’s Maximum Demand.

Many plants also draw on more than one source, such as the grid, captive power, waste heat recovery or solar. A meter on each source shows how much of the load each one carried.

• Energy per tonne of clinker and per tonne of cement, every day.
• Mill kW and running hours, with peak-hour units per mill.
• Demand when mills and crushers start, so starts can be staggered.
• Each source against the plant load.

Automobile and two-wheeler plants

Paint shops are usually the largest energy user in a vehicle plant: booth air handling, ovens and their exhaust fans run for every shift and often before it. Welding lines, compressed air, conveyors and test benches follow. Booths and ovens kept running through breaks, and compressors feeding leaks on non-production days, are the common waste.

• Paint shop energy per vehicle, separate from the rest of the plant.
• Welding line and compressor load on Sundays and between shifts.
• Shop-wise demand, so the shop that sets the peak is known.

Auto components, forging and machining

CNC machines, presses and heat-treatment furnaces work in shifts, with compressors feeding the whole shop. Machines left powered between jobs, compressors loading leaks overnight and furnaces held hot over weekends are the usual hidden costs.

• Idle hours per machine and the energy they cost.
• Compressor energy on holidays and between shifts.
• Energy per piece for the main part families.

Pharmaceutical plants

Clean-room air handling runs day and night to hold pressure, temperature and humidity, so HVAC and chillers dominate the bill. Purified water systems, compressors and process equipment follow. Many pharma plants also prefer plant data that never leaves the site.

• HVAC and chiller energy by block, including weekends and shutdowns.
• Base load at night against daytime production load.
• Data kept inside the plant network, with nothing sent to an outside server.

Paper and board mills

Pulpers, refiners, paper machine drives and vacuum pumps run continuously. A refiner or vacuum pump working harder than it should shows as higher energy per tonne long before anyone notices on the floor.

• Energy per tonne of paper, per day and per grade.
• Refiner and vacuum pump feeders on their own meters.
• Demand during start-ups after a break, which can set the month’s peak.

Chemical and process plants

Pumps, agitators, reactors, brine chillers and cooling towers run in batches or continuously. Batch starts that overlap set demand; pumps throttled by valves waste energy every hour they run.

• Demand by batch, so overlapping starts can be staggered.
• Pump and chiller energy against output.
• Voltage and current unbalance on motor control centres.

Printing and packaging

Corrugators, printing presses, laminators and compressors carry the electrical load. Presses and corona treaters left on between runs add idle energy; compressors feed leaks across the shop.

• Idle time on presses and laminators.
• Compressor energy when lines are stopped.
• Energy per tonne of board or per thousand boxes.

A real bill: demand the plant never drew

A garment factory in the 1,000 kVA class peaked at about 70% of its Contract Demand and was billed at 90%. That month it paid over ₹1 lakh for demand it never drew.

KONDUKTOR® EMS shows your true 12-month peak, so you can see what Contract Demand your plant really needs. It then holds back the compressors, chillers and ovens you choose before demand crosses the limit, moves batch loads out of peak hours and switches off idle machines after the shift, engineered for your plant as part of your project.

Send us your bill and we will show you the same line on yours.

Manufacturing in KONDUKTOR® EMS

• The running Maximum Demand interval on every meter, against Contract Demand, with alerts as demand approaches the limit you set.
• Power factor on every panel, shown as lagging or leading, with the capacitor kVAr needed to reach your target.
• Running, idle, stopped and overload time per machine, against up to 7 shift timings.
• Current trends per machine: a machine drawing more current for the same job can show the change on its trend before it stops.
• Daily production entry and plant-wide energy per unit made.
• Peak, normal and off-peak units per panel, and a bill estimate on your tariff.
• Your true 12-month peak, then the loads you choose held back before demand crosses the limit, engineered for your plant as part of your project.

Department-wise monthly cost statements, automatic daily and monthly reports, compressor load and unload analysis, cost per unit produced per machine, and vibration and temperature sensors on the same RS-485 network are set up for your plant as part of your project.