Smurfit Kappa slashes energy bills and cuts CO2 emissions with HeatingSave

Smurfit Kappa is one of the world’s leading producers of paper-based packaging, operating in 32 countries – 21 in Europe, and 11 in the Americas – with around 41,000 employees.

The company focuses on producing corrugated packaging, with their operations supported by a strong network of container board mills. They also have leading positions in several other market segments including solid board and solid board packaging and graphic board.

One of Smurfit Kappa’s key policies is that corrugated plants need to be close to customers (generally no more than 250 to 300 kilometres, due to the cost of transportation). Hence, the group has numerous facilities and sites spread across the UK and operating relatively independent from each other.

Smurfit Kappa’s Gosport site is a part of the Smurfit Kappa South group. It comprises three buildings, namely the main factory/office complex, a smaller engineering warehouse and a despatch facility.

The three buildings used to be fitted with old and inefficient heating systems that had become too expensive to maintain and run. “For this reason, back in 2013, we decided to upgrade our entire heating system. We realized that this was also the perfect opportunity to install an energy management system that would give us better control over our heaters and also lower our energy-related costs” said Paul Duggan, their Site Manager for Smurfit Kappa Gosport.

Following the upgrade, both warehouses and the production facility were fitted with new gas fired air blowers for heating, whilst the offices used a gas boiler and associated radiators.

After carefully reviewing the HeatingSave proposal, as well as the system’s technical features, the company’s directors decided to go ahead with the project and arranged to have a site-wide HeatingSave Building Energy Management System installed.

HeatingSave’s ability to control every heating system on site from a single, easily accessible web-based software platform and its extensive support for a wide range of heating solutions, including industrial hot air blowers, were among the unique selling points that “sealed the deal”, the Site Manager revealed.

HeatingSave was installed at the Smurfit Kappa – Gosport site in early 2014 and no major hardware or software problems were encountered at the time. “The installation process was fast and done in a very professional manner. Everything went smoothly and with minimum disruptions to our daily activity, which was highly appreciated.” Mr. Duggan commented.

“I was provided with basic training on using the system after it was commissioned” Paul also told the HeatingSave reporter. “The training was very good and informative. In hindsight, I’ll have to say that it was more than enough, because the HeatingSave system and its control software are rather self-explanatory – very easy to use” he added.

When asked whether they’re using the HeatingSave Building Energy Management System at its full potential, Paul answered, humorously, that “Yes, yes we are, especially now that we’ve switched off the heating for summer.” 

“Joking aside, though, my answer is Yes, we’re certainly using it at its full potential and it has already started to save us money, since our energy bills are lower than before. It’s a bit too early to give you any figures in terms of savings, but we plan to review our energy costs at some point and we promise to let you know then” he commented.

HeatingSave’s internal Linux based computer constantly re-calculates and improves the efficiency and savings of a heating systems by learning the heat-loss profile for every area that it controls, within the  buildings at Smurfit Kappa – Gosport. Given like-for-like conditions, HeatingSave typically cuts fuel bills by between 20% and 30% and in a number of instances has cut heating bills by over 50%. Also, by optimizing and making the heating system functional better it also cuts CO2 emissions by a similar amount, which is an important target in Smurfit Kappa’s global sustainability vision and strategy.

Beside helping organizations to drastically reduce their energy usage, HeatingSave also provides key users with a powerful set of easily accessible control and reporting tools for a building’s heating and hot water systems. In fact, when asked what he liked most about the system, Mr Duggan replied: “I really like that I can simply log on to the control software via a web browser and instantly adjust settings and temperatures, need be.”

This powerful, time-saving feature is available via the HeatingSave T3520LN Linux-based system, which hosts the control software right on the board – effectively removing the need for a PC and providing connection to the web and mobile devices. You just Wi-Fi into it locally!

The T3520LN controller comes with loads of features delivering incredible value for money, such as electricity, gas and water monitoring and targeting and new sensors for measuring room air quality (relative humidity & carbon dioxide).

The HeatingSave Building Energy Management Systems installed at Smurfit Kappa worked without a glitch. “I never really needed to call either the help desk support service or the HeatingSave engineers. The system worked fine, we didn’t experience any problems.” Mr. Duggan exclaimed. He added that he is very happy with the general level of service from HeatingSave. He commented: “The system worked very well for us. To be honest, at this time, I don’t really see where you could do any better”.

When asked if he would recommend HeatingSave to other companies, Paul said “Yes, I certainly would”. Summing up his experience of HeatingSave in a few words, Paul concluded,”It’s a very efficient system and is also very easy to control remotely.”

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Smurfit Kappa South – Gosport,

Wingate Road

Fort Brockenhurst Industrial Estate

Hampshire

PO12 4DR

Phone:  0044 (0) 2392 584511

Web: http://www.smurfitkappa.com/