CONTACT APP

Energy consumption is becoming increasingly important in the industry due to rising costs and regulatory requirements. CONTACT’s new energy management app enables companies to reduce emissions and combine climate protection with competitiveness. Energy-efficient production is a top priority for many manufacturing companies: it not only contributes to climate protection but also lowers costs and the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF). CONTACT Software has now expanded its Elements for IoT platform with energy management functions that enable companies to transparently break down their energy usage and reduce it with lasting effect. The tool calculates audit-proof KPIs, creates visual comparisons, and generates reports. Digital energy management is essential for a continuous improvement process: By comparing key figures from successive reference periods, companies can identify savings potentials and derive optimization measures. CONTACT’s solution meets the requirements of ISO 50001 so that companies can benefit from government subsidies. Making energy data transparent Meter readings are either recorded automatically, entered manually, or imported from a file. Thanks to CONTACT Elements’ no-code approach, users can create digital twins for production plants or energy meters themselves and configure dashboards. Widgets allow for visual comparisons of the measured values, for example, by displaying the current usage or the consumption over a certain period. Energy consumption and costs are listed in a table and a diagram shows which energy resources (such as electricity, gas, compressed air, district heating) are used by which assets. Valid data for the product carbon footprint Companies can transparently break down energy data, from the production line all the way to the individual machine and produced unit. This helps them identify major energy consumers, analyze and optimize processes regarding their energy demand, and collect data for the calculation of the Product Carbon Footprint. Additional benefits arise from the combination with CONTACT’s solutions for digital production control (MES/MOM). Customizing makes it possible to forecast the energy consumption of production orders using AI. If the expected and measured values deviate, Elements for IoT triggers an alarm and provides recommendations for action. The software also indicates when it is advisable to switch off a machine, considering factors like ramp-up times. In one use case, this resulted in energy savings of 23%. CONTACT’s app for energy management will be available with the next Elements release, which is set to launch in September. At the Open World 2024 in Munich, Germany, customers and partners can experience all the new features of CONTACT’s technology platform and its specialized applications first-hand.