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MISSION VIEJO, Calif. -May 24th, 2006--Vigilistics, a company serving the dairy and food processing industries with real-time operations intelligence software, announced the availability of energy-use analysis software for dairy processing plants.
"The cost of natural gas has doubled in the last few years," said Robert Moore, Vigilistics CEO. "Our customers urged us to add energy management capabilities to the Vigilistics real-time operations intelligence software, which is already used by dairy processors for reducing milk losses."
Vigilistics offers five configurable modules for energy management. The Evaporator Management Module provides daily analysis of energy use per unit-of-product and identifies opportunities for more efficiency during all modes of operation, including production, clean-in-place (CIP) and idle. The Dryer Management Module has similar features, but additionally assists in maintaining product moisture uniformly closer to target, which saves energy and increases yield. The real-time tracking of dryer operations also provides management with the basis for improving and enforcing better operating procedures.
The Boiler Management Module provides analysis of boiler operations to identify opportunities for reducing the cost of steam. The Refrigeration Management Module correlates loads with modes of equipment operation, allowing management to establish and enforce better operating procedures, which smoothes the loading and reduces energy use.
The Pasteurization Management Module monitors production and non-production activity during milk processing. Energy use is reduced by better CIP and scheduling procedures based on real-time information.
The Vigilistics energy management modules are available as options to the Vigilistics real-time operations intelligence software. Other capabilities include milk loss reduction and product genealogy tracking and tracing.
"The energy savings opportunity for a dairy plant will generally pay for the Vigilistics energy management system in a few months," said Ron Huffman, Director of Operations Analysis for Vigilistics. "For some dairy products the energy cost is already 40% of the manufacturing cost, and natural gas prices are expected to go even higher than they are today."
Vigilistics is a Member of the International Dairy Foods Association working group focused on chemical, water and energy usage reduction best practices.
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