Baobian Electric, a subsidiary of China South Industries Group Co., Ltd., has established itself over the past sixty years as a leading manufacturer of power transmission and transformation equipment in China, producing a range of cutting-edge products in the global power transmission sector. According to Advantech's solution architect Dong Wang, Baobian Electric has collaborated with Advantech in equipment monitoring and production automation since its early years. After that, when the company began implementing IoT applications, it further deepened its cooperation given Advantech's status as the world's leading logistics network solution provider. As a result, in recent years, when Baobian Electric began its digital transformation and promoted factory intelligentization, they were quick to choose Advantech's IoT solutions.
Advantech's Business Representative, Jun-Peng Tang, explained that this project primarioly focuses on system implementation at Baobian Electric's Hebei plant. The plant originally had a system in place to collect and record data from various energy-consuming equipment, such as power distribution, HVAC, and air compressors. However, this data was not centralized but scattered across different control systems, creating data silos. Additionally, the maintenance of energy-consuming equipment relied on manual inspections, leading to challenges such as high workload, low inspection frequency, and the inability to detect problems in real time. As a result, there was an urgent need for an intelligent energy performance management system to reduce energy costs and comply with national energy conservation and carbon-reduction policies.
To address these bottlenecks, Baobian Electric implemented various iEMS applications in two phases. The first phase focused on key energy-consuming facilities, such as compressor system efficiency management and real-time monitoring for the power supply network and electrical equipment. This phase involved data collection, recording, analysis, and monitoring, with real-time data displayed via 3D visualization charts. These tools enabled administrators to formulate energy-saving measures, evaluate their effectiveness, and continuously improve results through iterative adjustments and verification. The second phase included the implementation of HVAC efficiency management, energy management with ECOWatch, and carbon asset management with CarbonR, further optimizing carbon reduction and energy management within the plant.
Dong Wang emphasized that, in addition to iEMS, the Advantech team also provided customized development services tailored to the specific needs of the power transmission and transformation plant. This included creating 2D/3D visual management pages optimized for on-site workflows, such as electricity, water, steam, air compressors, HVAC, and heat exchange systems, making the system more user-friendly for administrators. Furthermore, the integration of scenario-based alarm management and operation and maintenance management tools allowed for timely responses, improved maintenance efficiency, and reduced costs.
