Needs and challenges of "automated meter reading" in on-site facility management

Understanding energy consumption, such as gas and heavy oil, is an important task in manufacturing and facility management, but the traditional visual meter reading process poses many challenges.
For example, the following problems may arise in the workplace:

□ Burden of meter reading work and labor shortage
Patrolling meters installed across a large site or at multiple locations, and manually recording and transcribing data is a huge burden. There are also serious issues with labor shortages and the work becoming dependent on individual personnel.

□ Insufficient visualization and utilization of energy usage status
Regular meter readings, such as once a month, make it difficult to detect daily or time-of-day usage or abnormal values early on, which can lead to unnecessary energy consumption and increased costs.

□ Pressure to reduce CO2 emissions and costs
As efforts to decarbonize and conserve energy are underway, there is a need to reduce CO2 emissions and costs, but many people on the ground are unsure where to start.

□ Concerns about utilizing existing facilities and construction costs
When introducing a new system, there are needs such as "I want to utilize my existing gas meters" and "I want to avoid large-scale construction and expensive initial investments."

To solve these issues, there is growing expectation in the field for "automated meter reading" and "energy visualization and efficiency."

Automatic meter reading reduces on-site labor | AI camera system

This product is a system that installs an AI camera on existing meters for gas, heavy oil, etc., and automatically reads meter values using image analysis technology. The acquired data is automatically linked to the energy management system "Kisense®", allowing detailed data down to the minute to be centrally managed in real time. In addition to the currently supported rotary meters, support for meters with seven-segment displays is planned for the future.

Key Features

○ Utilizes existing meters, no large-scale installation work required, and can be introduced in a short period of time

○ AI image analysis enables automatic reading of meters with high accuracy

○ Collaboration with Kisense® enables visualization and analysis of energy consumption such as gas and heavy oil on the cloud

○ Supports on-site labor savings and improved management levels with features such as abnormal value detection, alert notifications, and automatic report creation

Energy Management System Kisense®

​Kisense® is a platform with a wide range of functions, including energy consumption comparison and analysis, cost conversion, visualization of CO2 emissions, and alert notifications. In addition to data acquired by AI cameras, it can also simultaneously collect and analyze a variety of equipment data.

▶ Learn more about Kisense here

Reduce CO2 emissions through efficient energy management | Benefits of implementation

Introducing this product will bring you the following benefits:

 

• ◆ Labor-saving and labor cost reduction for meter reading work
  This eliminates the need for on-site staff to patrol the site or to keep handwritten records, significantly reducing workload and labor costs.

• ◆ Detailed data acquisition and real-time management in minutes
  Energy usage is automatically recorded down to the minute, and can be checked and analyzed in real time from a PC or tablet.

• ◆ Visualization and reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions
  Kisense®'s analysis function helps you detect wasteful energy consumption and abnormal values early on. Based on this data, you can curb wasteful energy consumption and make concrete efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and costs.

• ◆ Centralized management of energy at multiple locations and analysis in yen terms
  Kisense® centrally manages energy data such as gas, heavy oil, and electricity from multiple locations. By converting the amount of different energy used into yen, you can compare the unit price differences for each energy type at a glance, achieving optimal energy management.

• ◆ Reduce risk with abnormality detection and alert notifications
  Kisense®'s alert function instantly notifies you of abnormal values and problems, contributing to faster on-site response and reduced risk.

• ◆ Low-cost implementation by utilizing existing facilities
  Existing meters can be used as is, eliminating the need for large-scale construction or expensive initial investment.

Smarter equipment management for factories and facilities | Case studies

This product is ideal for sites that manage multiple gas meters or large premises, such as factories, plants, commercial facilities, buildings, hotels, etc. In particular, it allows headquarters or administrative departments to grasp and manage energy data from multiple factories and bases in one place, enabling optimal energy-saving measures, cost reductions, and CO2 emissions reductions across the entire company.

Before the introduction, meter reading, recording, and aggregation were done manually at each location, which meant that data collection and analysis took a lot of time and effort. However, after the introduction, data acquisition using AI cameras and centralized cloud management using Kisense® made it possible to visualize, compare, and analyze multiple energy sources, including gas, electricity, and water, in real time.

In this way, it not only saves labor on-site, but also contributes to the energy management and strategic planning of the entire company by management and administrative departments.

Introduction flow

Macnica provides comprehensive support, from listening to your issues to operation and maintenance. During the on-site survey, we select and customize the optimal camera to suit the installation environment and the type of existing meter, so you can install it with peace of mind.

Inquiry

The AI camera system supports on-site labor savings, more efficient energy management, and reduced CO2 emissions.

If you have any questions about installing or using this product, please feel free to contact us using the form below. We will make proposals based on your on-site challenges and requests.