Redesigning a SaaS Tool for Analyzing and Reducing Energy Consumption in Manufacturing Plants
Meet the Cleint
Energy Insights aims to create meaningful, actionable short-term Energy Insights for Indiana’s small-medium manufacturers that lead to continued investment and growth into smart manufacturing tools.
I worked as a 0-1 Product Designer with a team of 3 other Designers collaborating with the client’s cross-function team for 2.5 months.
Client Goals
Redefine and redesign the existing product by indentifying key market gaps and business opportunities
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Design Process
From identifying business needs to defining product features and creating a high-fidelity prototype, we followed an iterative approach—define, implement, validate, and repeat—until we built a user-friendly MVP!
Define
Design
Test
Repeat
Did you know?
Industrial plants spend nearly $125 billion on energy consumption every year.
"What?! that's a lot!"
Hence, as a manufacturer, energy management is a top priority in the success and sustainability of your business.
"But wait.. Why are we spending so much on energy?"
There could be multiple reasons like poor machine maintenance or machines running idle and consuming excess energy.
"To reduce energy costs, we need to analyze machine performance and optimize energy consumption."
Research & Discovery
5
Interviews Conducted with Client, manufacturing engineers & domain experts.
3
Personas Identified as potential users
8
Competitors analysed to understand client's market position
16
Categories analysed in environmental analysis
Environmental Analysis
Through extensive secondary research, we analyzed the domain, market trends, existing solutions, and the broader business landscape to identify gaps in the market.
Inverviews
We conducted five interviews with the client, partners (Integrators), and experts to understand the existing product, how users interact with it, and the challenges they face with energy monitoring and saving.
Overcoming challenges
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Finding participants for user interviews was challenging, so we adapted by interviewing domain experts, consulting the client, and analyzing online videos to deepen our understanding of the manufacturing domain and processes.
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Understanding the complexities of the manufacturing domain was another challenge, which we addressed by leveraging expert insights, studying real-world workflows, and gathering client perspectives.
Target Users
Based on our secondary and primary research, we identified the following stakeholders who used the client's existing product and played a role in energy saving. The roles and responsibilities of these managers deferes based on the size of the plant. For our MVP we decided to focus on the persona of a 'Plant Manager'
Plant Manager
Oversees the entire manufacturing operation, ensuring efficiency, productivity, and cost-effectiveness; plays a key role in line optimization and energy savings by implementing strategic initiatives and process improvements.
Engineering Manager
Leads the design and maintenance of production systems, optimizing workflows and integrating energy-efficient technologies to enhance line performance and reduce waste.
Line Manager
Supervises daily operations on the production line, ensuring workers follow best practices for efficiency and energy conservation while identifying opportunities for real-time process improvements.
Day in a Life of the Plant Manager
Summarizing the Key Insights
1
Users care about tracking the metrics that lead to high energy consumption
2
They require granular data, to identify the root causes
3
There is a need for prioritization and tracking of issues
Problem Statement:
How might we help the Plant Manager use energy data for optimizing line production and reducing energy costs?
Identifying Gaps
We collaborated closely with the client to gain an in-depth understanding of the existing product, identify gaps, and determine key features to integrate into the refined design.
No overview to monitor the data
Confusing Graphs make it difficult to find insights
No flexibility while analyzing the graphs
No space to document actionable items.
The client asked us to research and redefine the MVP with a new UI that bridges user gaps and creates a greater impact.
Iterations
We brainstormed features and crafted designs in Figma, creating both low-fidelity and mid-fidelity prototypes.
Below is a snapshot of our feature-wise Information Architecture Ideation.
Design Solution MVP
Monitor
Helps save energy by giving real time alerts on the line when a machine is running idle
Analyse
Analyzes the machine trends to identify the peak energy consumption.
Implement
Aids in documenting a cause of high energy consumption to take the right action.
Monitor
Dashboard Overview
• Captures energy data (consumption and cost) at a glance
• Highlights high energy peaks in data
Alerts
• Receiving real-time alerts of crossed thresholds
• Based on each metric
Analyze
Machine Trends
• Analyze machine trends to identify the root
cause of issues via key metrics.
• Flexible graphs and tabular data.
• Cell-wise and machine-wise granularity.
Implement
Ticketing
• Captures essential insights of concern
areas through tickets.
• Helps document Identified anomalies and possible actions.
Impact
Reduced graph reading time by 80%
Finding root causes for higher energy costs made 3x faster.
Documenting reasons for higher energy costs increased the probability an issue being resolved by 5 times.
Validation & Improvement Steps
1
Client Validation
2
Expert Feedback
3
Peer Evaluation
4
Self Evaluation
Improvements
We validated our designs through the lenses of desirability, feasibility, and viability, then incorporated most of the suggested improvements.
Well designed, usable fows and graphs - Detail level and granularity
Feasible Features - Clicking capability of the graphs
Intuitive UI - Switching capabilities and exibility of the graphs
Aligns with the business vision
Defining the Business
1
Revenue Model
2
Eco System Map
3
Competitive Landscape
4
Next Steps & 5 Year Plan
Since the new design introduced additional features, we helped the client redefine their IoT system and cost structure.
Revenue Model
Eco - System Map
This map shows how the IoT system monitors and analyzes data in the background.
Competitive Landscape
Competitive Advantages for EfficienTrack
1
A niche product for small and medium manufacturers
2
Low cost and affordable product
3
User-friendly UI, Easy to use graphs
Next Steps
My learnings:
I learned how to navigate 0-to-1 designs, reevaluate and redefine analytical SaaS software, collaborate effectively, communicate with clients, and adapt within a limited timeframe and resources.
Thank You
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