Achieving the ideal industrial plant with industrial data analysis
Interview by Julian Aristizabal, CEO and Co-founder of Dametis, in Mexico Business News.
What has been the company’s trajectory in the Latin American market?
Dametis has a strong presence in Colombia because I was born there. When we started thinking about where to open offices in Latin America, we chose Mexico because there are more industrial facilities, energy is expensive and water resources are scarce, creating an opportunity where the Dametis product could have a greater impact.
In addition, the opening of offices in Mexico is in line with our strategy to penetrate the North American market in the future. Many North American industrial companies are based in Mexico or have production facilities here. Our aim was not to tackle a large market like the USA directly, but to penetrate a market that is culturally similar to Colombia’s, and then move on to North America.
Which sectors would benefit most from your product?
Dametis works with what we call traditional industries, such as food and beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, electronics, automotive and many others. In fact, Dametis works with all industrial plants that have conventional utilities such as compressed air, chilled water and steam, among others. These are industries with which the company knows how to work, and has a wealth of experience to bring added value. For example, we work with Renault to help them optimize their painting process, or with the major dairy industry.
How did you adopt Lego theory in your analysis, and how does it benefit different types of installation?
Lego theory is the fruit of the experience of Dametis engineers. The company was founded by people with decades of experience. These experts have a working methodology that they reproduce in every factory. It’s often said that no two factories in the world are alike, but they’re all made up of the same components. For example, an air compressor is the same in plant A as it is in plant B.
So we began to wonder whether our methodology could be implemented and carried out by software. An engineer can analyze a few plants a year, but software has no limits. To do this, we had to create a frame of reference to model a plant and integrate our analysis algorithms.
What are the main improvements observed after implementing your solution?
The software first evaluates three categories in percentage terms.
– The first is what we call the ideal plant: a plant which, because of its technical and production characteristics, can consume as little energy and water as possible. The plant would then score 100%.
– The second rating would correspond to the best plant performance with optimized regulations and no additional investment.
– The third score corresponds to the plant’s actual performance in real time.
The software creates this reference point for each block or piece of equipment in the plant. In this way, we achieve rapid gains in the management and visibility of technological solutions that could be applied to achieve the goal of the ideal plant.
Imagine having specialists working 24/7 to optimize your industrial sites. That’s what MyDametis offers you, the only platform designed 100% by experts in environmental performance.
What basic recommendations would you give to players in the energy, oil and gas industry who are working on their green transition?
For an existing plant, this would mean implementing a daily energy management system, as our solution needs to be integrated into daily operations to maximize its value. At any moment, a water leak or other problem can occur, so it’s important to have a system that offers real-time visibility to ensure that energy and water are used optimally.
Secondly, before implementing solutions, companies should try to run the plant at its maximumenergy and waterefficiency. Many potential quick wins to achieve this maximum performance are often unknowingly overlooked.
In addition, industrial players need to define the technologies that will be implemented to generate economic benefits, and establish an annual investment plan needed to achieve the ideal plant. These plans vary from industry to industry.
What is the estimated return on investment for Dametis projects?
The energy management software itself enables better management and understanding of plants. So, without additional investment, the software can generate average savings of 5% on energy and water consumption. However, the projects that result from using the software can be even more interesting. We have optimized systems and achieved savings of up to 20% thanks to intelligent control.
What are the company’s main short- and medium-term projects and objectives in Mexico?
We have achieved some of our objectives in our first three months in Mexico, one of which is to sign contracts with companies and find partners capable of implementing our software in industrial installations. We already have two such partners, and will now concentrate on acquiring customers in Mexico. We are in advanced talks with four potential industrial customers.
Ideally, Dametis should achieve its objectives and build an operational service center with technical and engineering experts before 2024.
