Hardware Podcasts

261: Energy Transition Explained: How Manufacturers Can Save Energy and Build a Sustainable Future featuring Veregy’s Eric Spink & Shiva Subramanya

Manufacturing Happy Hour · 11 Nov 2025 · 52m

AI in practice: one real use of AI described

What this episode covers

Eric Spink and Shiva Subramanya from Veregy discuss how manufacturers can achieve energy transition goals by focusing on secondary utilities and leveraging performance contracting to bypass capital constraints. They highlight that perimeter equipment like boilers and HVAC consumes 60-80% of plant energy but is often overlooked, and they illustrate this with a pizza plant project where advanced controls and AI reduced energy use and improved product quality. The guests emphasize the importance of integrating production data with utility systems and establishing realistic sustainability plans funded by energy savings rather than competing capital budgets.

AI in practice

Where this conversation describes AI being used to build or deliver a product. Part of the AI in practice tracker.

ManufacturingVeregy AI system

The AI system ingested production data (milk temperatures, flows, steam valve positions) from the dairy processing line to predict steam demand, allowing it to dynamically sequence boilers and reset pressure set points without human intervention to improve energy efficiency.

“we get a lot of feedback. You get milk temperatures, milk flows, steam valve position, various, you know, chilled water temperatures, all of that process data gets fed back into the AI, and then the AI then allows the steam and refrigeration systems to operate much more effectively because they're able to predict the demand…”

Eric Spink · Hear it at 42:59

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Veregy, Rockwell Automation
Tools
PLC, VFD
Materials
Ammonia

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