International Procurement & Logistics (IPL) had a vision to improve efficiency in its facilities and planned to achieve this using the industrial IoT and energy analytics software provided by Hark. The two areas of focus for the project were energy monitoring and asset performance.
IPL, part of the ASDA group, sources a variety of different products from around the world, specifically for Asda customers, ranging from fresh fruit and vegetables to house plants and flowers, and award-winning wines.
Recently acquired by NASDAQ listed company SolarEdge, Hark is an award-winning energy management and industrial IoT company based in Leeds, UK.
Founded in 2016, its technology is designed to assist enterprises to improve efficiency, reduce waste and maximise yield by connecting to, providing visibility of, and automatically controlling assets such as energy meters, building management systems, energy storage systems and industrial systems, regardless of manufacturer.
The company works with IPL, one of the largest importers of produce in the UK, to gain connectivity and visibility of industrial assets within multiple packaging sites in the UK. The initial goal was to retrieve energy and asset performance data to feed into the company’s overall equipment effectiveness metrics.
The client’s facilities contain production lines, refrigeration plants, and multiple sub-metered areas throughout, including a central location to visualise and analyse energy and process data.
In order to make substantial performance gains and energy savings, IPL was aware that it would need cloud connectivity to a real-time asset and energy management system.
The company connected IPL’s industrial assets and meters to the cloud, to feed process, power and energy data directly into its platform using the existing secure network in the facility.
This gives users the ability to see real-time energy data, plant performance data and real-time process line data that is set up in custom dashboards. This data allows users to start identifying where potential energy savings can be made and highlight inefficiencies across the site.
IPL manager of engineering and hygiene Patrick Waterton said: “Having a deeper understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes at our production sites has been a real game-changer for how IPL makes operational and capital decisions. The Hark Platform gives me and my team the insight we need to keep our assets running at peak efficiency and to identify potential improvement initiatives, which ultimately helps to reduce operational and energy costs.”
