Technology to automatically make proposals for energy conservation at plants

Promoting energy conservation globally by diagnosing the potential energy saving effects and eliminating dependence on individual know-how

Elimination of dependence on individual know-how in energy conservation diagnosis

Further energy conservation is essential to achieve decarbonization in the manufacturing industry. Energy conservation techniques and diagnosis of the effects depend on the know-how of individual engineers. This makes it difficult for global companies to promote energy conservation at plants in various countries. To eliminate dependence on individual know-how, we have developed an automatic diagnosis tool to calculate the potential energy conservation effects based on the status of equipment, enabling even non-specialists to save energy. This has made it possible to promote energy conservation globally and train engineers, thus dramatically expanding efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.

Technology Overview

In the manufacturing industry, general-purpose equipment such as compressors and clean rooms used at plants consumes huge amounts of energy. Previously, energy conservation diagnosis was conducted by specialists, who proposed measures and calculated the potential effects of energy conservation by checking the settings, specifications, and operating conditions of equipment and comprehensively taking into account the various conditions. We have developed a tool to automatically propose effective measures and calculate their effects by digitizing the check items for diagnosis and how to comprehensively assess them. Anyone can use the tool by entering data for designated items. At Konica Minolta, we use the tool to implement Green Supplier activities: we make energy conservation proposals for our own plants and customers and help implement measures to reduce CO2 emissions.