As a foundry CXO, the thought of cutting energy costs often brings to mind hefty new equipment investments. But what if you could achieve significant savings – say, 12% – simply by leveraging data and smart processes? One Indian foundry did exactly that, proving that efficiency doesn’t always demand CapEx; sometimes, it’s about gaining insight.

The Silent Energy Drain

Foundries are energy-intensive operations. Furnaces, molding lines, and finishing processes consume vast amounts of power. Many units track overall energy bills, but few truly understand where and how that energy is being consumed at a granular level. This lack of visibility is a silent drain on profits. It’s like having a leaky pipe but only seeing your rising water bill, not the leak itself.

The Power of Digital Costing: A Real-World Success

Consider a mid-sized iron foundry in Gujarat. Their energy bills were consistently high, impacting their competitiveness. They believed new, more efficient equipment was the only solution – a significant capital outlay they were hesitant to make.

Instead, they partnered with us and an IoT provider to implement a digital costing transformation. This wasn’t about buying new machines; it was about integrating IoT sensors on their key energy-consuming assets (furnaces, blowers, motors) and linking that real-time consumption data with Activity-Based Costing (ABC) principles

The insights were immediate and transformative:

• They discovered that specific shifts were consuming disproportionately more energy due to process variations and extended idle times.
• Certain older machines, while seemingly functional, had significantly higher energy footprints than their assumed averages.
• Batch scheduling inefficiencies led to furnaces being kept at temperature longer than necessary for actual production.

By identifying these granular insights, they could make targeted operational adjustments: optimizing shift schedules, re-prioritizing maintenance on energy-hungry equipment, and streamlining batch processing. Within six months, their energy costs dropped by a remarkable 12% – without a single new capital expenditure.

Efficiency Through Insight, Not Just Investment

This case study proves a vital point: efficiency doesn’t always mean investment – sometimes it’s about insight. Traditional costing methods often lump energy costs into broad overheads, hiding inefficiencies. Digital transformation, especially through IoT integration with advanced costing like ABC, provides the granular data needed to pinpoint waste and drive operational excellence. It allows you to:

• Precisely Track Consumption: Understand energy use at the machine or process level.
• Identify Cost Drivers: See which activities or products consume the most energy.
• Optimize Processes: Make data-driven decisions to reduce waste and improve efficiency.
• Boost Profitability: Translate energy savings directly into improved margins.

Proactive Solutech: Your Partner in Digital Cost Savings

At Proactive Solutech, we bring this digital transformation to your doorstep. Through our specialized ABC consultancy and Costing-as-a-Service model, we integrate real-time operational data into your cost structures. We don’t just provide software; we deliver the insights and expertise to help your foundry identify hidden energy leaks and implement strategies for significant savings, often without requiring substantial CapEx.

Unlock Your Foundry’s Hidden Savings

Don’t let soaring energy costs erode your profits while believing expensive new equipment is your only way out. Explore the power of digital costing and unlock significant savings through actionable insights. It’s time to transform your energy consumption from a burden into a competitive advantage.