Bosch Rexroth AG Gains IT and OT Observability and Reduces Energy Costs by 20-30%

Reduced energy consumption, a databyte at a time

By using Splunk Enterprise, Bosch Rexroth AG now monitors and optimizes energy cost, energy usage, and carbon footprint in its Ulm model factory through collecting energy data every five seconds. The dedicated energy management solution uses the Splunk Sustainability Toolkit and Electricity Maps to provide real-time and forecasted power mix, carbon intensity, and energy pricing data, helping Bosch Rexroth AG detect inefficiencies.

This was achieved by applying three optimization levers and using AI and ML on the factory floor.

• Lever 1 Availability: Optimized standby mode
  Tackling the lever availability, gathering energy consumption trends revealed that certain machines were unnecessarily idle at various times of the day. Instead of keeping them on, the Bosch Rexroth AG team now shifts them into standby mode when they’re not in use, saving energy. “Splunk’s integration with data sources from both IT and OT environments gives us visibility into operations,” said Harald Lukosz, Referent Product Area Stage at Bosch Rexroth AG.
• Lever 2 Pricing: Optimized peak management
  Tackling the lever pricing and having infrastructure monitoring across both IT and OT environments also means that the factory can avoid surcharges for exceeding peak energy consumption levels. With Splunk, the team at Bosch Rexroth AG set up an alert — based on an AI/ML energy consumption forecasting model — to warn operators when the factory reaches the 90% mark for energy consumption. This prevents the factory from exceeding the maximum and paying energy price surcharges.
• Lever 3 Timing: Optimized scheduling of non-time critical energy intensive operations
  By incorporating AI and ML capabilities as well as the data from Electricity Maps, Splunk enables Bosch Rexroth AG to identify energy consumption patterns, forecast energy needs, and optimize scheduling of non-time critical energy intensive operations. For example, the teams ingested Electricity Maps’ forecasts on energy prices and carbon intensity as data sources. Equipped with this data, they could then schedule their processes and machines to run during times when energy prices and carbon intensity are lowest, and when the power grid has a larger supply of renewable energy available.

Infrastructure monitoring across IT and OT environments has also made it easier for Bosch Rexroth AG to comply with industry standards and regulations that require energy management and carbon footprint reporting, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive.