Rockwell Automation has won the contract to provide energy management software to Real Pet Food Company across four production facilities in Australia.
Real Pet Food produces well-known pet food brands including Nature’s Gift, Farmers Market, Ivory Coat and VIP, and supplies major Australian supermarkets. It commissioned the sustainability upgrade to help enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
“Real Pet Food is showing leadership by not just talking the talk, but walking the walk when it comes to sustainability,” said Anthony Wong, regional director – South Pacific at Rockwell Automation.
“By committing to measurable actions, they will help improve the planet, as well as their bottom line.”
Real Pet Food is currently measuring its energy management using spreadsheets and clipboards, which results in decentralised and disconnected information, and a lack of real-time management.
“Turning this manual data entry into a digital solution will provide Real Pet Food with better visibility of its energy consumption linked to production data, allowing it to identify optimisation opportunities,” Wong said.
According to Jarrod Edgecombe, head of sustainability at Real Pet Food, the company has a renewed focus on sustainability, with a new strategy in place involving a focus on a fresher future, and put into action through the philosophy that “every pawprint counts”.
“The partnership with Rockwell is transforming our data availability to ensure that we see an increase in the volume and the quality of data,” he added.
“These two factors are critical to underpin our decision making in real-time and enable our journey in decreasing energy intensity and carbon footprint through our operations.”
The energy management software can integrate into Rockwell’s ThingWorx IIoT platform, which is part of the company’s FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC, and allows users to connect, manage, monitor and control diverse automation devices and software applications through one intuitive user interface.
“Once fully installed, the energy management software will help increase Real Pet Food’s energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and allow access to real-time operational data for reporting and audits,” Wong explained.
“The software was developed in part by local software engineers, so the Australian teams from both Kalypso and Rockwell had extensive experience to draw upon when creating the optimum sustainability solution for Real Pet Food.”
The solution will be delivered by Rockwell’s consulting arm, Kalypso, which specialises in the digital evolution of industrial companies through consulting, digital innovation, enterprise technology, and business process management services.
