DS Smith – Making Corrugation More Cost-Efficient
Sector: Manufacturing (Packaging)
Client: DS Smith – Corrugated packaging plant in Featherstone
Challenge: Improve visibility of energy consumption across a complex manufacturing site, identify avoidable waste and provide the operational team with reliable, real-time data across multiple utilities and production processes.
Solution: Optimal Monitoring deployed a flexible energy monitoring system combining existing site equipment with additional hardware. The platform captures and analyses electricity, gas, water, temperature and humidity data, enabling the team to identify unusual consumption patterns and investigate specific areas of energy waste.
Impact: Within the first six weeks, analysis identified that the corrugator heaters were remaining on standby for around six hours each day, costing approximately £15 per hour. Introducing a low-fire setting reduced the hourly standby cost to around £8, delivering a 47% reduction and estimated annual savings of £15,300. This initial opportunity allowed the investment to pay for itself through the first investigation alone, while providing a scalable platform for identifying further savings across the site.
Read the summary here.
DS Smith partnered with Optimal Monitoring to improve visibility of energy use at its corrugated packaging plant in Featherstone. A flexible, real-time monitoring system was installed, combining existing site equipment with additional hardware to capture electricity, gas, water, temperature and humidity data.
Analysis of half-hourly gas consumption revealed that the corrugator heaters were remaining on standby for around six hours each day, costing approximately £15 per hour. By introducing a low-fire setting during idle periods, DS Smith reduced the hourly standby cost to £8 — a 47% reduction.
The opportunity was identified within the first six weeks and delivered estimated annual savings of £15,300, allowing the initial investment to pay for itself through the first investigation alone. The system also provides a scalable platform for identifying further electricity and water savings across the site.