Energy INsights
Energy INsights is a program to deploy smart manufacturing starter kits to Indiana’s small-medium manufacturers. Participants will receive a scalable hardware and software package, a hands-on learning experience, and engineering services to help them create quantifiably valuable manufacturing insights.
The Director of Energy INsights requested a logo and website be created to ensure the target audience had a place to learn more and apply for the program.
The Platform
Energy INsights leverages the expertise of the integrator partners to bring a package that will help drive insights that companies need to operate more productively during and after the pilot.
The EPIC software will be preloaded and licensed for use with the Ignition Platform and the Ignition Data historian.
Research
While this project originated from student-led research conducted through interviews with small to medium manufacturing workers and secondary industry sources, the following represents the research context that informed the platform's design.
Secondary Research
Small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) make up roughly 90% of all manufacturing establishments but account for only about half of total industrial energy consumption. Despite this, they pay higher per-unit energy prices than large manufacturers and are far less likely to have a dedicated energy manager on staff. Collectively, SMEs are responsible for approximately 13% of total global energy demand — making their efficiency gains significant at scale.
Pain Points
The most consistent barrier reported by SMM workers is simply a lack of time and dedicated resources. Energy management is rarely a standalone role — workers describe wearing six or more hats in a given week, leaving little bandwidth to monitor, analyze, or act on energy data. Other key pain points include limited capital budgets, short return-on-investment requirements, and a lack of accessible tools that translate raw utility data into actionable insight.
Interview Questions
How do you currently track your facility's energy usage?
Who is responsible for energy management at your facility?
How often do you review your utility bills, and what do you look for?
Have you ever identified an energy inefficiency? How did you discover it?
What would make it easier for you to take action on energy data?
How does energy cost factor into your production planning?
The Logo
The Director of the Energy INsights program requested a logo that referenced the data generated and displayed from the energy consumption monitoring dashboard. They also requested a reference to electricity, which is shown in the yellow color of the logo. The logo also references data points and the increase and decrease of an energy consumption graph.
Persona
