Cutting energy use and costs: how WMG helped ASE’s energy efficiency
Cutting energy use and costs: how WMG helped ASE’s energy efficiency
Established in Coventry in 1947, Aluminium Surface Engineering (ASE) has been a pioneer in quality aluminium hard anodising.
The first to introduce the hard anodising process to England, ASE has spent over 75 years driving innovation and supporting product design and development in key industries such as automotive, aerospace, medical and high-tech engineering.
Challenge: To reduce energy usage, lower costs and be more sustainable
The company faced significant challenges as anodising is essentially an electrolytic process: it requires electricity. ASE wanted to reduce their high energy consumption and costs by focussing on their critical machines which consumed large amounts of energy. They needed support and solutions to reduce unnecessary energy usage, lower costs and enhance their overall efficiency.“We started the programme with some ideas but now have so many more actionable things to take forward. Our mission is to become a business that is as sustainable as possible for our customers.”
Elise Smithson, Business Improvement Manager, ASE.
Solution: ASE leveraged WMG’s expert insights and cutting-edge tools
To tackle their energy challenges, ASE partnered with WMG’s SME Group, utilising expert insights and advanced tools to enhance their energy efficiency and sustainability.
ASE partnered with WMG’s SME Group and joined two programmes:
- Net Zero Innovation Network (NZIN): A cohort connecting like-minded companies to develop sustainability solutions for the manufacturing industry.
- Manufacturing Energy Toolkit (MET): A programme focused on helping businesses reduce energy consumption and costs.
WMG Technology Transfer Engineers then conducted a comprehensive consumption evaluation of ASE’s key electrical equipment, and how each machine impacts their overall energy consumption and costs. This involved:
- Monitoring energy usage: six machines were monitored, with Azure Cloud Architecture and Pressac CT clamps used to collect data on energy consumption.
- Identifying idle consumption: the team assessed the impact and potential savings of machines being turned off when not in use.
- Addressing electrical load imbalances: WMG’s team proposed solutions for electrical load imbalances in the machines, helping to reduce energy losses.
Impact: WMG helps ASE to save thousands of pounds each year
The collaboration found that ASE could save further costs through load imbalance improvements, new dashboards which give detailed insights into consumption, and further energy saving steps; such as the introduction of solar PV panels and improved insulation of anodising tanks.
By developing smarter machine energy-saving strategies, WMG found that ASE could achieve annual savings of up to 75,700 kWh and 15,700 kg of CO; equivalent to £12,000 per year.
Overall, the partnership supported ASE to significantly reduce their energy consumption, lower operational costs, and move towards more sustainable manufacturing practices.
Industry experts at WMG who delivered the project with ASE said: “This work demonstrated that by starting with small changes to equipment usage, manufacturers can make a big difference to efficiency. It paved the way to lots of other exciting ideas and we are delighted that ASE’s sustainability mission is now a reality.”
Want to reduce your energy costs? Save costs and help your manufacturing business by joining a Net Zero Innovation Cohort.
Get support with digitising your business: Complete our WMG SME engagement form here.