Siemens win first MHEA Innovation Award

Company picks up inaugural award for innovative work to help improve process plant efficiency

IN recognition of their innovative work on upgrading plants to be more efficient, Siemens have won the MHEA’s first Innovation Award, which was announced and presented at the recent Bulkex exhibition and conference in Harrogate.

The award is part of a new group of industry awards instigated by the MHEA – a 78-year-old association representing materials handling engineers – with categories including innovation, supplier of the year, apprentice of the year, project of the year and the Harold Wright award.

The Siemens entry focused on significant fan and control improvements made to the clinker cooler and kiln systems at three Hanson UK sites, which have already brought Hanson over £1,750,000 in energy savings and reduced CO2 emissions.

Siemens application specialist Gary Palmer (left of photo), who worked on all three of the Hanson upgrades, commented: ‘It’s great to be recognized for this innovative work, where companies can enjoy long-term benefits from process improvements, and we’re particularly pleased to be the first recipients of this award.’

The Siemens Total Engineered Solution is centred around the integrated drive systems concept (IDS), which ensures that all products within the drive system are as fully integrated as possible to maximize operational performance and asset lifetime, and to provide enhanced data monitoring to the operator along with a faster return on investment. In some cases additional benefits of lower noise were also achieved.