Case study

More than $150,000 a year, taken out on the dashboard data

Compressed airWaterFood & Beverage ProcessingBulk Handling & Rail Logistics

Metering PDI Bulk's water and compressed air showed where both were going, and within weeks the general manager had taken more than $150,000 a year out of operating costs on process adjustments alone.

PDI Bulk

Named with the client’s agreement; every figure prints its source.

A Quantify predictive maintenance sensor mounted on a red compressor package in a plant room

How it went.

Every study on this site runs the same four beats, in the same order.

  1. 01

    Alert

    Overnight water flow nobody could see, and a compressor cycling constantly to hold pressure in a leaking system.

  2. 02

    Cost

    $150,000 per year. Reduced by the client, on process adjustments made from the dashboard data, within weeks of it going live.

  3. 03

    Fix

    Water metering on the incoming service and major consumers · Compressed-air header pressure and compressor runtime monitoring · Railcar temperature monitoring for in-transit QA/QC · Alerting on overnight baseline flow

  4. 04

    Restored

    Overnight flow stopped; compressor runtime down and header pressure stable

In full.

The problem

Two problems, one plant. Water was leaving the building overnight, and the air compressor was working far harder than the demand justified.

“At PDI, the compressor was running harder than it should have been — cycling constantly to maintain pressure in a system that was losing significant volume to undetected leaks…”

What we installed

Metering on the incoming water service and the major consumers, header pressure and runtime monitoring on the compressed-air system, and railcar temperature monitoring for in-transit QA/QC.

What the data showed

The first night of metering answered the water question on its own. Water was running out of the building while nobody was in it, which is a thing a monthly invoice can never show and a thing an overnight baseline shows immediately. The leaks were found and the process was changed.

What changed

“We identified the losses, worked with the team to address them, and then watched what happened. The compressor runtime dropped. The pressure stabilized.”

The number

More than $150,000 a year, on process adjustments alone. Jeff Inkes, PDI Bulk’s general manager, published that figure himself in a Google review of our work: “Within weeks of having the dashboard, I’ve been able to reduce annualized operating costs more than $150,000 by simply making process adjustments based on the data collected.”

Also true

The work became a national rollout across facilities in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec.

What the data looked like.

Hover or arrow-key across the trace to read any interval. The flagged point is the one that started the conversation.

More than $150,000 a year, taken out on the dashboard data
EXPECTED OVERNIGHT FLOOR9 L/min, nobody on site≈ 5,500 L every night before anyone arrivesFirst shift on
INCOMING WATER · ONE DAY · 30-MIN BUCKETS · DASHED = EXPECTED OVERNIGHT FLOOR
PDI Bulk · the second view
DEMAND ONLYWk 1: 145 h/weekWk 2: 146 h/weekWk 3: 148 h/weekWk 4: 148 h/weekWk 5: 98 h/weekWk 6: 96 h/weekWk 7: 97 h/weekWk 8: 97 h/week14514614814898969797
COMPRESSOR RUNTIME · EIGHT WEEKS · DASHED = DEMAND ONLY

The published totals are the figures in the proof register, with their sources. The interval shape is a representative reconstruction and is flagged as such in the dataset.

What changed.

Before

Overnight flow running unseen; the compressor cycling constantly to maintain pressure

After

Overnight flow stopped; compressor runtime down and header pressure stable

$150,000

per year

Reduced by the client, on process adjustments made from the dashboard data, within weeks of it going live.

Source: Jeff Inkes, General Manager, PDI Bulk, in a Google review of Quantify Environmental

In their words.

Within weeks of having the dashboard, I've been able to reduce annualized operating costs more than $150,000 by simply making process adjustments based on the data collected.

Jeff Inkes, General Manager, PDI Bulk

Quoted verbatim from the archive. Where only a fragment is on file it renders as a fragment with its attribution; the middle is never invented.

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