Tondo S/A counts on one of the highest wheats milling operating capacities in the southern region of Brazil, delivering around 36 thousand tons per month. With more than 33 thousand m² (355209,04 sq. Ft), the company has factories in Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, in addition to Distribution Centers in Garibaldi (RS), Tijucas (SC), Curitiba (PR) and São Paulo (SP). Through Orquídea brand´s consolidation, the company continually gained market with the production of pasta, cookies, traditional and special flours, among other wheat-related products.

At a challenging period like this the world is experiencing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the food industry needed to remain at non-stop operation in order to guarantee food supply for the population. To increase its competitiveness, Orquídea took the opportunity to participate in the Bônus Motor program, which is an initiative of the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), carried out in partnership by CPFL Energia and WEG to encourage the replacement of standard efficiency electric motors, currently in operation, by modern and energy-saving electric motors, with a discount up to 40%.

In addition to reducing electricity costs in the use of more efficient motors, Orquídea implemented an important solution of the fourth industrial revolution: WEG Motor Fleet Management, to provide greater operational savings and productivity for the maintenance team when implementing predictive actions based on the status of the electric motors currently operating in the plant.

Improved efficiency on food production

Upon detecting the need of higher operating reliability of the equipment, the company found out that the high number of stops was due to motor failures. Based on this finding, Orquídea followed and completed all stages of the Bônus Motor program and then they received the CPFL / RGE discount.

In this supply package, the customer got a 40% discount on the purchase of 73 new electric motors, from the W22 IR3 Premium line, meeting the new minimum efficiency level for low voltage electric motors in Brazil, in force since August 30, 2019. The new motors will operate in Vacuum Pumps, Hydraulic Pumps, Fans, Mixers, Blowers and Elevators, allowing the production of pasta, removing and filtering solid particles from the environment and transporting raw materials for the entire production process.

Orquídea is ready for Industry 4.0

To become a reference as Industry 4.0 in food production, Orquídea implemented in its plant the WEG Motor Fleet Management, which is an IoT solution developed to increase operational efficiency in the management and maintenance of assets. The solution consists of the installation of WEG Motor Scan® sensors for periodic and continuous collection of data such as vibration, temperature, Status (on/off), Estimated speed (RPM), Estimated Frequency (Hz), Table of Events with notifications via e- mail, Threshold for Healthy Condition (Good, Alert, Critical), and operating time of the electric motors to predict potential failures.

With the application of WEG Motor Fleet Management, data is made available to maintenance and service team who can perform predictive maintenance based on online monitoring of electric motors status. This accessibility to online data brings lots of benefits, including increase of maintenance efficiency, maximization of assets utilization and particularly the increase of the equipment availability and reliability. Currently the system monitors more than 40 electric motors from Orquídea production plant through WEG Motor Scan® sensors and Gateways for automatic data collection.

As stated by Anderson Santos, Orquídea´s Maintenance and Service Supervisor, the main challenge for the maintenance team is to provide production reliability, with reduction of operating costs, and the WEG solutions implemented in the factory are collaborating for this. Through the new platform, asset management has become much easier since this platform allows the analysis of important diagnoses for maintenance planning and decision making. WEG Motor Fleet Management proved to be most effective solution for monitoring electric motors among other tested resources.

Higher savings for the food industry

Potentially the savings to be achieved with the implementation of these solutions is 378,902.79kWh a year. In reference to this project, the bonus amount achieved was R$113,418.08 (USD 20,542.00) from ANEEL´s Energy Efficiency Program, plus an amount of R$19,295.00 (USD 3500.00) from the WEG Replacement Plan. The new motors, correctly specified by WEG, will contribute to increase reliability and availability of the equipment as well as reducing production downtime.

The company's Maintenance Supervisor sees a good number of advantages while participating in the project: “after replacing the motors, we had electricity gains in our operation by spending less kW/h per ton produced and there were also no more reports of equipment breakdowns replaced motors. For Orquídea, projects for the best use of assets are a great satisfaction and the main objective of the company, which is to generate results and look forward”, says Anderson Santos.

For WEG, operating a program such as Bônus Motor, in partnership with CPFL Energia, is another source of pride, as the program will allow replacement of thousands of electric motors, contributing to the increase of energy efficiency levels in the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. CPFL and RGE customers can register consumer units and join the electric motors replacing program through the website www.bonusmotor.com.br.