Case study Cement & aggregates · North Texas

One built-in ABB drive feature. Half a day of labor. No hardware, no downtime, no capital. Two years of measured results.

Customer anonymized at their preference. Real figures retained.

$96,000

Average annual saving

~250

ABB LV drives on site

½ day

Labor, one employee

$0

Capital investment

A large North Texas cement plant has standardized on ABB variable speed drives for years — going back to the ACS600 generation — making ABB a foundational part of its motor control and energy management strategy.

Drive Installed Base

The plant operates approximately 250 ABB low-voltage drives, primarily ACS880 models ranging from wall-mounted units to cabinet drives, along with several DCS880, ACS1000, and ACS2000 drives across various plant processes.

Business Challenge

For a large-scale cement producer, energy is one of the biggest operating expenses. The plant wanted to reduce energy costs without introducing production risk, capital expense, or added operational complexity.

While reviewing the ACS880 firmware manual, the team identified ABB’s built-in Energy Optimizer function (parameter 45.11) and wanted to understand how it could be applied to improve efficiency.

Solution

The Energy Optimizer dynamically adjusts motor flux to reduce losses and improve efficiency, especially on variable-torque applications such as pumps and fans. The initial recommendation was to enable the optimizer on those loads while being cautious with constant-torque applications, where performance could be affected.

The plant enabled the Energy Optimizer on selected drives serving pumps and fans. The entire implementation took roughly half a day of labor by a single employee — no additional hardware, commissioning, or downtime required.

Results

Within a few months, the plant was seeing noticeable savings, with early estimates approaching $100,000 per year. Encouraged by the results, the team expanded the feature to every ABB drive in the facility, including constant-torque applications, beyond the original recommendation.

After two years of continuous operation, the findings were clear:

  • No negative performance impact on variable-torque or constant-torque applications
  • No process disruptions or production issues
  • Consistent, measurable energy savings across the plant

The facility now reports an average annual energy cost reduction of $96,000, directly attributed to enabling the Energy Optimizer.

Conclusion

By leveraging a standard, built-in feature of its ABB drives, the plant achieved significant, sustained energy savings with minimal effort and zero capital investment — a clear example of how thoughtful use of drive functionality delivers measurable operational value while maintaining process reliability.