With annual sales over $14 billion in more than 180 countries, the Kellogg Company is the world's leading producer of cereal and a leader in cookies, crackers, and savory snacks productions. In 2005, in an effort to reduce their bottom line as well as their footprint, Kellogg set 10-year targeted reductions for electricity, gas, and water. Since 2005, Kellogg's Battle Creek Plant has met two of the three reduction targets returning $2 million per year to the business and an additional $1 million in utility rebates. The PI System has been the fuel for continuous improvement. Of the 35 projects responsible for the savings, only five projects did not use PI System data to measure results.
In this presentation, Kellogg's Battle Creek Plant will present a case study of its HVAC Project. The plant has 44 HVAC units "controlled" by a building management system. The standard operating method in the winter was to heat the air to 80-100 degrees in order to prevent freezing the coils and then cool that same air back down to 50 degrees at discharge. Process air brought into the building by process control systems had no link between the building management and process control systems. Building pressure was basically non-existent and presented food safety risks. In collaboration with a consulting firm, the plant developed and retrofitted the controls with a supportable open source control system, installed building pressure monitors, and tied into process air intakes to balance the building pressure. They also designed a freeze protection system to protect the coils without unnecessary heat waste. With the installation of air flow sensors, they were further able to measure the fresh air intake at each unit. This retrofitting of the plants two processing areas led to savings in excess of $350,000 per year. In 2016, the plant will extend the retrofitting to their packing areas for additional savings."