Overview

The Mile End Print Centre is primarily responsible for printed production of the Advertiser, Sunday Mail, Australian and Messenger group of papers.

This amounts to approximately 296 million pages of product each week. 

SAGE Automation was selected by News Corporation Limited to supply an energy monitoring and reporting solution for the Advertiser Newspapers Limited Mile End facility. The energy monitoring system SAGE Automation supplied stems from The Advertiser’s commitment to the environment through its participation in the Greenhouse Challenge.

Advertiser Newspapers entered the Greenhouse Challenge in 2000 when it became the first member of SA Challenge 100, a partnership between the Australian Greenhouse Office and Business SA. Since that time, their efforts have resulted in Greenhouse emissions 7.1% below business as usual projections.

Solution

• Detailed analysis of the business and reporting needs of the customer
• Installation of 4 fixed and 2 portable Power Monitors 3000 on the Ethernet network
• Installation and configuration of RS Energy Metrix Software version 1.3, the first commercial implementation of this product in Australia
• The meter reading available throughout the enterprise, through web interface
• Build portable power meter units that could be connected to any switchboard and communicate via Ethernet allowing greater flexibility in monitoring “hot spots” for power consumption.
• “Shadow” electricity bills that allowed the customer to monitor the current energy costs day by day and better forecast monthly expenditures
• Various trends and reports on Greenhouse Gas tonnes emitted, total power, apparent energy and average current.

Result

“This project is important for The Advertiser from several perspectives. From a Greenhouse perspective it will give us the tools to compare efficiencies, gauge the effectiveness of any changes we make and monitor base-loads, the trimming of which should be a critical component of any Greenhouse project. From a business perspective, our energy needs create a considerable monthly expenditure and this system will enables us to better manage and limit that expenditure. From a plant Maintenance perspective, this system will become the kernel of the SCADA system the plant really needs to move into the present generation of industrial equipment.”

Andrew Paddett—Deputy Plant Manager