For plant managers, two things in life are certain: manufacturing uses a lot of energy; and that energy costs money. In fact, a survey by The Daily Telegraph and YouGov revealed that 28 per cent of manufacturing companies spend more than £250,000 a year on energy . That’s enough to make anyone’s eyes water.

As a specialist in running, maintaining and developing a plant system, you know first-hand that keeping an eye on process efficiency and costs is a full-time job.

As costs go up, so too does the expectation for you to keep them down, which means greater efficiency, less waste and more productivity. So, are the nation’s energy providers’ recent price going to make your job harder? Thankfully, no. As long as you use your experience to stay ahead of the problem.

Where do you start?

With the pressures of keeping a plant running and production demands to account for, you may not have the time to focus on areas where savings could be hiding. The energy centre, distribution network and process plant could hold the key to success.

The challenge is: how do you then break these down into specific components or processes that can be identified and improved? More importantly, how do you find the time?

As well as planning for the future, you’re also expected to carry on with, and excel at, your daily tasks. So, instead of bearing the burden entirely on your shoulders, why not share the load with someone who can help?

Auditing efficiency

What can be easily forgotten when it comes to audits is their effectiveness in providing a framework for the productivity and profitability of a business and its employees.

Steam and thermal energy audits do exactly that. They use the knowledge of specialists with decades of experience to identify areas in which your plant could improve, thereby empowering you and your team to make changes, develop processes and even implement some form of preventative maintenance.

The results vary from business to business, but past customer successes speak for themselves: an audit for a hospital, for example, identified the need to improve and optimise the control, generation and distribution of steam. The team is now working with Spirax to realise the identified savings, which could potentially reach more than £200,000. Impressive, right?

Plant and process efficiency is what you do best. An expert in steam and thermal efficiency can help you to continue exceling in your role, while ensuring that it’s your profits, rather than your bills, that see the biggest rise.

Get in touch to find out how an audit could future-proof the potential of your steam system 

Mat King, Survey & Audit Manager