Companies everywhere are embracing sustainability. For example, Emerson recently announced its Net Zero targets and is continuously developing innovative initiatives – like its Greening Of Emerson, Greening By Emerson and Greening With Emerson Framework; Environmental Sustainability Steering Committee; partnerships with new associations and other leading organizations; and much more – to achieve them.
Emerson is providing the same value for its customers too. For example, Colgate-Palmolive Company – an S&P 100 consumer products manufacturer – recently announced they are partnering with Emerson to achieve net zero carbon emissions in operations by 2040.
Armed with data from Emerson’s advanced sensor technologies and analytics, Colgate is reducing energy waste in its product packaging facilities. The company has already seen a 15% reduction in energy usage on several toothpaste and toothbrush packaging lines and expects even greater energy savings as the technology is rolled out more widely.
The project is part of Colgate’s digital transformation program and uses Emerson’s specialized AVENTICS™ pneumatic sensors and IIoT-enabled software architecture to precisely monitor compressed air flow in real time to identify leaks, optimize pneumatic processes and improve air flow efficiency.
In Colgate’s implementation, Emerson’s AVENTICS AF2 Smart Flow Sensor calculates air usage data with integrated software that displays trends and anomalies on analytics dashboards, allowing operators to easily regulate supply pressures and detect leaks. The system’s built-in connectivity makes it easy to deploy and provides immediate insights at the machine level, with network capability paving the way for monitoring compressed air usage enterprise wide.
Given the heavy reliance on pneumatics in large-scale consumer goods production, reducing the amount of energy associated with compressed air contributes not only to sustainability efforts, but also to overall equipment health and reliability.
For Colgate, saving energy through air flow monitoring is just the tip of the iceberg. Through Emerson’s solutions and a test-and-learn mindset, the company will be able to detect costly energy leaks, optimize its manufacturing processes, scale lessons across its global footprint and better deliver on its sustainability and business goals.
