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Energy Moni­toring Project: Tracking Consump­tion at the Work­piece Level

The Chal­lenge
We’re Tack­ling

In the “Energy Moni­toring” project, the goal is to track energy consump­tion at the level of indi­vidual work­pieces — a crit­ical step toward data-driven, sustain­able manu­fac­turing. However, several chal­lenges must be over­come:

  • Lack of machine unifor­mity: equip­ment from different manu­fac­turers varies in age, tech­nical config­u­ra­tion, and connec­tivity
  • Missing stan­dard inter­faces on legacy machines, making sensor inte­gra­tion diffi­cult
  • Diffi­culty assigning energy consump­tion to specific parts, espe­cially during parallel processing or when trace­ability is limited
  • Limited support for indus­trial commu­ni­ca­tion proto­cols such as OPC UA, MQTT, or Modbus on older systems
  • Inte­gra­tion hurdles with existing IT and energy manage­ment systems (e.g., Power BI), espe­cially in brown­field envi­ron­ments
  • Insuf­fi­cient docu­men­ta­tion and incom­pat­ible network infra­struc­tures that hinder end-to-end data flow
  • Secu­rity require­ments neces­si­tating edge devices (e.g., Secunet, Endian) with robust capa­bil­i­ties
  • Complexity of retro­fitting sensors in active produc­tion settings with mechan­ical and spatial constraints

Solving these chal­lenges is key to enabling scal­able, accu­rate, and trans­parent energy data collection—empowering manu­fac­turers to opti­mize resource usage, reduce CO₂ emis­sions, and build trust with customers through energy-aware pricing models.

Partic­i­pating
Members

What we’ve
done so far

To lay the ground­work for energy trans­parency at the work­piece level, the Energy Moni­toring project team has taken a prac­tical, imple­men­ta­tion-driven approach. While the full rollout is still underway, several key mile­stones have already been achieved:

 

  • A set of sensor compo­nents from ifm elec­tronic was ordered by Duchêne Indus­tries in late March 2025, covering elec­trical energy and compressed air measure­ment
  • The sensors were deliv­ered and success­fully installed on two pilot machines (Mazak and DMG Mori) by mid-May 2025
  • Initial config­u­ra­tion of the edge infra­struc­ture began in parallel: BotCraft has started preparing the edge devices — Secunet for data collec­tion and Endian for prepro­cessing
  • Inte­gra­tion plan­ning is ongoing, with indus­trial proto­cols such as Modbus, OPC UA, and MQTT being eval­u­ated for optimal compat­i­bility
  • A unique GUID-based iden­ti­fi­ca­tion logic for tracking energy usage per work­piece is being devel­oped within BotCraft’s PLC envi­ron­ment
  • Coor­di­na­tion between IT, produc­tion, and system vendors is in progress to ensure readi­ness for MES and Power BI inte­gra­tion

These early steps ensure a solid tech­nical foun­da­tion for the Proof of Concept phase and support the project’s broader goal: enabling part-level energy visi­bility, CO₂ tracking, and energy-informed pricing across future produc­tion lines.

 

Why this project
matters and for who

This project matters because it turns energy data into a tangible lever for effi­ciency, cost control, and sustain­ability — rele­vant for deci­sion-makers across produc­tion, IT, sales, and beyond.

The project is of central impor­tance, as it enables trans­parent tracking of energy consump­tion per work­piece and thereby supports targeted opti­miza­tions within the produc­tion process. In light of rising energy costs and increasing sustain­ability require­ments, the project estab­lishes the foun­da­tion for calcu­lating the CO₂ foot­print and complying with future regu­la­tory demands.

It enhances compet­i­tive­ness by making sustain­able produc­tion data visible to customers and by factoring energy usage into pricing strate­gies. The project is rele­vant for manage­ment, produc­tion, IT, and sales — as well as for customers who increas­ingly value trans­parent and envi­ron­men­tally respon­sible supply chains.

project
Deliv­er­ables

Trace­ability

Enable assign­ment of energy consump­tion to indi­vidual work­pieces 

Effi­ciency

Opti­mize energy usage throughout produc­tion 

Sustain­ability

Provide the capa­bility to calcu­late the CO₂ foot­print per part 

Aware­ness

Raise customer aware­ness of energy consump­tion and inte­grate it into pricing

Ready To
Jump in?

We’re inviting contrib­u­tors and collab­o­ra­tors to join the Duchêne Energy Moni­toring initia­tive. This project goes beyond just capturing data — it’s about tack­ling real-world chal­lenges in energy trans­parency, sustain­ability, and effi­ciency. Whether you’re in manu­fac­turing, automa­tion, IT, or sustain­ability, your exper­tise can help shape how energy data is collected, assigned, and lever­aged across produc­tion envi­ron­ments. Join a growing network that trans­forms tech­nical complexity into scal­able, inter­op­er­able solu­tions — designed for impact, built for the factory floor.

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