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Achieving the Ideal Industrial Plant Through Software Analysis

Julian Aristizabal - Dametis
CEO and Co-Founder

STORY INLINE POST

Karin Dilge By Karin Dilge | Journalist and Industry Analyst - Mon, 03/06/2023 - 15:46

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Q: What has been the company’s trajectory entering the Latin American market?

A: Dametis has a strong presence in Colombia because I was born there. When we started to think about where to open offices in Latin America, we decided on Mexico because there are more industrial facilities, energy is expensive and water resources are scarce, creating an opportunity where Dametis’ product could have a bigger impact.

In addition, opening offices in Mexico is aligned 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 objective was not to tackle a big market like the US directly but to penetrate a market that was culturally similar to Colombia and then jump to North America. 

Q: What industries would benefit the most from your product?

A: Dametis works with what we call traditional industries, such as food and beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, electronics, automotive and many more. In fact, Dametis works with all the industrial plants that have classic utilities like 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 add value. For example, we are working with Renault to help them optimize their painting process or with the big dairy industry.

Q: How did you adopt the Lego theory in your analysis and how does it benefit different types of facilities?

A: The Lego theory comes from the experience of Dametis’ engineers. The company was founded by people with decades of experience. These experts have a work methodology they replicate at every plant. It is often said there are no two identical plants in the world but all of them are made of the same components. For example, an air compressor is the same in plant A as in plant B, so we began to ask ourselves if our methodology could be implemented and realized by a software. One engineer can analyze a few factories per year, a software has no limit. To make this happen, we had to create a frame of reference to model a plant and integrate our analyzing algorithms.


Q: What are the main improvements seen after implementing your solution?

A: The software will first rate three grades in a percentage value. The first one is what we call the ideal plant: one that due to its its production and technical characteristics can consume as little energy and water as possible. This would give a 100% grade to the plant. The second grade would be for the plant’s best performance with optimized regulations and no further investment. The third grade is the reality of the plant performance in real-time. 

The software creates this benchmark for every bloc or equipment in the plant. In that sense, we have quick wins in the management and visibility of the technological solutions that could be applied to reach the goal of the ideal plant.


Q: What basic recommendations would you give to energy or oil and gas industry participants working on their green transition?

A: For an existing plant, it would be to implement a daily energy management system because our solution must be integrated into daily operations to maximize value. At any moment, a water leak or any other problem could occur, so it is important to have a system that provides visibility in real-time to ensure energy and water are used optimally.

Secondly, before implementing solutions, companies should try to make the plant work at its maximum level of energy efficiency and water consumption. Many potential quick wins to achieve that maximum performance are often unknowingly left on the table. 

Furthermore, industrial players should define the technologies that will be implemented to generate economic benefits and establish a blueprint for the yearly investments needed to reach the ideal plant. Depending on the industry, these blueprints will vary. 

Q: What is the estimated return on investment for Dametis’ projects?

A: The software by itself results in better management and understanding of the plants. So, without further investments, the software can generate 5% savings on energy and water consumption on average. Nonetheless, the projects that flow from using the software may be even more interesting. We have optimized systems and achieved up to 20% of savings with intelligent regulation. 

Q: What are the company’s main plans and objectives in the short and medium term in Mexico? 

A: We achieved some of our goals within our first three months in Mexico, one of which was to sign contracts with companies and find partners that can implement our software in industrial plants. We already have two such partners so we will now focus on gaining clients in Mexico. We are in advanced talks with four potential industrial customers.

Ideally, Dametis would reach its objectives and build a service operation center with engineering and technical experts before 2024. 

 

Dametis offers software that helps manufacturers to reduce their environmental footprint. It collects, analyzes and interprets environmental data to help its clients with their environmental metrics.

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