Case study: how software system solutions gave Lucozade an energy boost
1 Aug 2017
A leading soft drinks manufacturer looks to human machine interface specialists to improve its energy performance.
Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS), part of Suntory Beverage & Food Europe, was formed in 2014 and is one of the leading soft drinks businesses in the UK and Ireland.
The company’s UK site is a 53 acre facility based in the town of Coleford, Gloucestershire, where it produces Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport, Lucozade Zero and Ribena. The factory produces more than 1.2 billion bottles of drink each year.
In order to realise its mission to reduce its impact on the environment, the company partnered with Wonderware UK & Ireland. The goal was to reduce its factory’s energy consumption by 5% year-on-year.
Wonderware offers software solutions that tie together multiple fleets of plants and facilities, while also enabling new ways for customers, suppliers and producers to collaborate.
The partnership with Wonderware would help the company understand its energy consumption in more detail, supporting the business in achieving its goal
A complete breakdown of site energy usage was required, so an expert-driven energy management solution could be put in place to ensure reductions.
The partnership with Wonderware would help the company understand its energy consumption in more detail, supporting the business in achieving its goal.
The company implemented Wonderware System Platform which could be attached to Lucozade Ribena Suntory’s individually metered systems to convert the raw energy data into actionable information. This allowed LRS to better understand its energy consumption patterns and costs, as well as identify potential inefficiencies.
Built like an operating system for industrial applications, Wonderware System Platform provides configuration, deployment, communication, security and data connectivity.
It is capable of connecting to hundreds of field devices and plant systems. LRS has also been using Wonderware’s Operational Intelligence Software dashboards to raise awareness of energy consumption and promote behavioural change.
To make further improvements, we need to understand where we are using energy across the site and improve the visibility and accessibility of that information to allow us to make changes
Gary Burford, energy and sustainability manager at LRS
The real-time feedback and live usage data on the dashboards enable team members to see how their individual actions can have an impact on energy use across the site.
This focus on employee behaviour change has already worked for LRS in the field of health and safety.
Not long ago, the company announced 365 days without lost-time accidents, mainly as a result of individuals taking ownership of health and safety on-site. Gary Burford, energy and sustainability manager at LRS, said: “Energy management is a continuous improvement activity and we’ve already undertaken in excess of 26 energy saving projects in the last four years.
“To make further improvements, we need to understand where we are using energy across the site and improve the visibility and accessibility of that information to allow us to make changes.
“We believe the graphical interfaces and real-time data offered by the Wonderware solutions will engage our people, giving them an immediate awareness of their impact on energy usage and empowering them to make the small changes that can, over time, deliver big results.”
