Elgi’s air audit helps in optimising compressed air needs
The importance of compressed air to a textile mill cannot be overemphasized. Sustainability is again the key word that is doing the rounds when it comes to optimum utilization of compressed air in a textile unit. And why not? After all, air is free, but compressed air is not!
Elgi Equipments, an established market leader in compressed air solutions, has been helping textile units increase the efficiency of their compressed air systems and ensuring significant energy savings with comprehensive air audits. Salona Cotspin, which is part of the Salona Group, is one of the mills where Elgi Equipments’ expertise has led to tangible results.
A team from The Textile Magazine visited the spinning mill and saw up close what was termed “a startling but pleasant revelation” by Mr. Manoj Jhajhariaa, the Joint Managing Director of the company.
A third generation entrepreneur, Mr. Manoj is also a key member of the textile entrepreneurs’ forum – the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF). The Salona Group, established in 1995 basically as a trading firm, has today had its diversified presence in textiles, ranging from fiber to fabric to fashion. While the company’s spinning units are located in Pungampalli (25,000 spindle capacity) and Annur (80,000 spindle capacity) near Coimbatore, its garmenting unit is in Tiruppur.
“We are there in spinning, knitting and fabric, and now we are coming out with an exclusive range of ladies apparel. Our target is end-to-end solutions in knitwear for ladies” said Mr. Manoj, going into details about the company’s initiatives.
The company which supplies to some of the top brands in the domestic market such as Lux, Rupa and Dollar also exports to key global markets such as Europe, Russia, Thailand, Singapore and Bangladesh. The top management has its strong focus on infrastructure. While the spinning machinery used in the units includes those of Truetzschler, LMW and KTTM, the autoconers in use are from Muratec and Schlafhorst. For knitting, the company uses Pailung machines.
40% energy savings
According to Mr. Manoj, air audits are not something new to the company. “It is being done for well over a decade now in our units. However, it was not being done in a professional manner. It was more like a small-time plumber walking in and plugging a few leaks with absolutely basic and outdated equipment. This is when I met Mr. Jairam Varadaraj, Managing Director of Elgi Equipments, considered an authority on compressed air, and his insights were an eye-opener for me”.
In the same vein, Mr. Manoj added: “Following the audit report recommendations by the Elgi experts, we have been able to achieve 40% energy savings on our compressed air system since our association started around eight months ago.”
Listing down the triggering factors for the company’s sharper focus on air audits, Mr. Manoj pointed out: “See, if you take the cost of power, it is about 10-11% of the turnover of a standalone spinning mill like ours. As you all know, power costs have been on the rise and we don’t have any control over it. Similarly, we don’t have any control over the price of raw materials. The yarn that is produced in our mill is a commodity and its price too fluctuates based on our demand and supply situation. Over and above this is the competition factor. Now, my mill is located in Tamil Nadu. In Gujarat, in recent years, the State Government has been giving a subsidy of Rs. 3 per unit in case power is purchased from the State Electricity Board. In this case, for a standard 40’s count, a mill owner in Gujarat saves about Rs. 4 per kg minimum. How do I compete with him? The only way is to save on energy costs.”
The Salona Group has been doing power audits on a regular basis, he disclosed: “We have an exclusive in-house team that checks every aspect of power in our units. Thanks to the thorough work done by the team, we have been able to achieve our target of 10% energy savings, which is quite substantial.”
Adding further, Mr. Manoj said: “Similarly, on an average, any standalone spinning mill can save at least 40% energy on air compressor systems. This 40% savings, when it adds to the 10% savings which I already mentioned (on power), makes a huge difference. In today’s competitive market, with all the economic upheavals thrown in, this makes for a massive difference. In a 25,000-spindle unit like ours, 40% savings will be to the tune of about Rs. 25 lakhs per annum or roughly two lakhs per month”.
Potential for huge savings
Continuing to list down key statistics, Mr. Manoj said: “1 CFM of air costs me about 0.16 to 0.17 kilowatts, which amounts to about Rs. 28 to Rs. 29. So, per CFM per year, it costs me about Rs. 12,000. If one were to go by these calculations and take into account the spinning mills in Tamil Nadu alone, the loss being incurred is to the tune of Rs. 200 crores per annum. Now, this is only for spinning mills. If we were to take into account the weaving and processing industries, it amounts to a colossal wastage of energy”.
Mr. Manoj expressed complete satisfaction over how Team Elgi has been going about the air audits job. “They are doing a real thorough job. In the last 15-odd years, we have not come across a team like theirs. Elgi experts give us recommendations on short, medium and long-term measures for energy conservation along with financial estimates and analyses for implementation. This is followed up by assistance in implementation and performance monitoring of the energy conservation proposals. As mentioned earlier, air audits are not new to us, as we ourselves have a competent team doing air audits. However, by collaborating with the Elgi’s team, we are now able to see significant results. This team of experts has been able to point out certain grey areas that we needed to work on, and it has made all the difference”.
Citing an example on the additional inputs provided by Elgi, Mr. Manoj said: “Earlier, we could check the air flow going through in machines, but we did not have the necessary expertise and equipment to check the flow in the main network. In order to do so, we needed to stop work, which is not an economically feasible option. However, Elgi came to our rescue with the latest technology and could measure the same in a matter of a few minutes without stopping the mill”.
Mr. Manoj added: “Remember, it does not make business sense for us to buy all the latest meters or measuring devices, for we will be using them only rarely. This is where it pays to work with an established industry leader like Elgi Equipments. With them, we can rest assured of our compressed air system and focus on other core areas of business”.
Elaborating further on Elgi’s contribution in bringing down energy consumption on compressors, Mr. Manoj explained: “Our power consumption on air was about 3000 units per day. We decided to bring it down to below 1000 – 999 to be precise. After working with the Elgi team, we have now revised that target to 666, and we are fully confident of achieving the same on a regular basis”.
Highlighting the key areas textile units must focus on with respect to compressed air systems, Mr. Anvar Jay Varadaraj, Manager – Special Projects, Elgi Equipments, said: “As businesses scale up, it is really important that owners are aware of the best technology. For example, reciprocating compressors on a continuous application, whether they are oil-flooded or oil-free, doesn’t make a lot of sense, because they are fundamentally energy inefficient. A screw compressor, on the other hand, of Elgi or any other brand for that matter, from a technology perspective is fundamentally better.”
Handholding customers
Giving reasons for Elgi Equipments’ foray into air audits, Mr. Varadaraj explained: “We have always had the technical expertise to do air audits, but didn’t think about how our expertise could benefit customers beyond the initial sale. So, focusing on the textile segment, and specifically ITF, we thought ‘let us align our views on what is important to textiles and what we are good at’. We know air and compressed air. We know that compressed air is an expensive part of spinning. So we said ‘there is a mutual interest in there’. For us, in the long term, we build relationships and study compressed air applications. It was a very obvious choice to go ahead and make our technical expertise available, because our interests were quite aligned. We felt that it was important that we share the technical data with our customers. We need to handhold them through the implementation.”
An evolving market
Mr. Manoj feels that awareness levels about the latest technologies through which energy savings can be made on compressed air are on the rise. “The industry is evolving. Earlier, the awareness levels were very poor. Whenever someone had to buy an air compressor, he would just say ‘I need a 45 kilowatt compressor’. It was like, if it is a 25,000 spindle capacity spinning mill, it should be a 45 kilowatt compressor. It had become some sort of a norm. Thankfully, now mill owners are gradually getting more aware and are talking in terms of cfm. Now they say ‘we want a 150 cfm compressor or a 200 cfm compressor at 7 bar of pressure’, which is the correct way of going about the buying process. Going forward, I see this change in mindset leading to further evolution of the market for the better.”
Sharing similar views, Mr. Varadaraj quipped: “The gradual evolution process is going on. Customers are getting more technology conscious. In future, I see them asking ‘this is my mill and this is my spindleage; tell me about the technical specifications of the compressor that I need.’”
Offering his thoughts on the evolution of the industry, Mr. Varadaraj observed: “One of the key roles of leading compressed air solution providers like us is also to raise the standard in which compressed air technology is adopted. For example, if you look at some of the key markets where we are exporting, like Australia, the US, and Europe, most of our machines ship with a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive), even though it would cost them more, depending on the kilowatt of the machine. There is a fundamental understanding and acceptance by customers in these markets that in varying load conditions, VFDs will pay back over time. Elgi offers both integrated VFDs and standalone VFDs, which can be installed on an existing machine. Our responsibility is to showcase the benefit of the technology so that tomorrow the customer demands such technologies or services from the supplier. Similarly, it is our key role to educate our clients on air audits, the recommendations and handhold them through the process, because over time they themselves would become adept at conducting air audits on their own.”
Dwelling further on the topic, Mr. Varadaraj stated: “We realize that in a textile mill, if the compressor stops, the entire mill stops. Every minute counts. So, we have to make sure that our products and services ensure maximum uptime.”
Engaging with ITF
Mr. Varadaraj concluded with the statement: “We are fortunate in establishing and growing this relationship with ITF. Specifically, we’ve found that the members are highly engaged and responsive. Immediately post audits, the CEOs are engaging their general managers to implement the recommended changes to experience the energy savings. There is fantastic camaraderie and willingness to share ideas with each other. Ultimately, this will improve the competitiveness of Indian textiles.”
Going forward, he expects further strengthening of the relationship that they have built with the Salona Group and also working with other mills of the 510-member strong ITF forum in the near future.