Measure, Control, Save

Andechser Molkerei Scheitz, a dairy processing company, requires detailed, informative data for their energy management. So they rely on measurement technology innovation from WAGO: the new current and voltage tap for 2-conductor 95 mm² (4/0 AWG) through terminal blocks. Due to its compact design, the product is perfect for densely populated control cabinets.

Andechser Molkerei Scheitz lies forty kilometers southeast of Munich, in a picturesque Bavarian landscape, with Lake Ammer below and the Alps on the horizon. Around 630 organic farmers from the foothills of the Alps supply the company with milk. In order to make creamy butter, fruity yogurt and other high-quality products, the largest organic dairy plant in Europe uses quite a bit of energy.

Efficiency is therefore a high priority. According to Andechser Molkerei Scheitz, the company’s organic agricultural producers are obligated to act in an environmentally sustainable way. Therefore, the company considers it its responsibility to use innovative technology to continuously reduce energy consumption, contributing to environmental protection. This means that the electricity and heat consumption in 2018 should be lower than the previous year by several percentage points. Significant savings were already achieved in 2017. The continuous quest for greater efficiency has also paid off in economic terms, as energy represents one of the company’s major costs.

The most important tool for successfully implementing this strategy is reliable and flexible measurement technology and software for comprehensive energy control. This allows the dairy plant to conduct multiple evaluations, generate time comparisons and relate consumption to production amounts. This in turn allows them to determine the energy consumption per yogurt produced. The dairy plant then derives efficiency measures from these values, or uses them to check how effective such measures are. In addition, the system enablestracking of the carbon footprint of individual products.

According to Andechser, this is important information, which is used for the company’s environmental statement, among other things. Beyond merely lowering their taxes, the systems help Andechser Molkerei Scheitz to reduce other expenses: Thanks to increased transparency, the company can also take advantage of electricity tax breaks and reduced network charges.

Even though the company currently profits from its energy management, collecting the data took considerable effort. “At the beginning, we did not know how the data came into existence. The previous system was a black box that only offered a limited range of functions,” reports Christoph Ehrensperger, who works as project manager and programmer at Andechser Molkerei Scheitz. In addition, they occasionally discovered that some of the data was simply wrong. Ehrensperger explains another annoyance with the system: “The measurement technology was so niche that we regularly needed external support – even just to integrate a new piece of equipment.” Since the dairy facility was constantly growing and investing in new production technology, this led to substantial effort and additional costs.

These were good reasons for the company experts to look around for a more reliable alternative that would be easier to deal with. They soon struck gold when they discovered one of WAGO’s measurement technology innovations: The new current and voltage tap for 2-wire 95 mm^² through terminal blocks (855-951/250-000) with an integrated current transformer (conversion ratio: 250 A/1 A) taps all relevant energy data directly at the feed in. Energy data is then transmitted via a WAGO PLC, the PFC200, to the energy control center. The technology is complemented by WAGO terminal block assemblies for current and voltage transformers (2007 Series). Andechser Molkerei Scheitz has used automation technology from WAGO for many years. They know that WAGO products are reliable and powerful. According to Andechser, the decision to use WAGO measuring technology was an easy one to make.

Installing the current and voltage tap is child’s play: Simply plug it into the jumper slot on the terminal block. “This saves a great deal of time and money,” says Ehrensperger. The possibility of jumping on the secondary side of the current transformer also proved helpful during commissioning. “Without this function, it could be damaged during non-optimized normal operation under some circumstances. Since we only completed the wiring of the measurement technology a few weeks later, we used this function to the fullest extent during various tasks,” says Ehrensperger.