Weather data helps factory reduce energy consumption

Chemical and consumer goods company Henkel has announced the positive results of implementing smart home technology in its manufacturing plants. Henkel uses Netatmo’s Smart Home Weather Stations in all 31 of its laundry and home care factories to correlate weather data with potential procedures and changes to its manufacturing processes.

The Smart Home Weather Station consists of two components: an indoor and an outdoor module. Henkel uses the smart device to analyse the outside temperature, humidity and relative air pressure at the company’s production sites and correlate the data with energy consumption. The stations connect with Henkel’s monitoring system through the Netatmo API (app programmable interface) to retrieve, process and analyse the data against other factors inside the factories.

The data is helping Henkel to understand the impact weather has on energy and utility consumption; as a result, limited natural resources such as gas and water can be used in a more efficient and sustainable way. The weather stations also add value to Henkel’s product quality: for example, gathered data helps to better predict changes to the production area and its materials due to humidity. This is particularly important for products that are highly sensitive to these factors, eg, dishwasher tablets.

“We see potential to reduce our global energy consumption by 3–5%,” said Johannes Holtbrügge, Senior Manager Digital Transformation at Henkel.

For example, at its production factory in Düsseldorf, Germany, Henkel increased the burner efficiency of its spray tower for producing power detergents by 5%. Additionally, the company optimised the process for the gas burner for the tower and the temperature control along the entire drying process.

Factories can therefore use easily available products like Netatmo’s to analyse their current situation and derive appropriate measures for energy and utility consumption programs. According to Netatmo CEO Fred Potter, “This shows yet another way our products can help communities beyond home customers.”