Velika, a SYS-DAT Group company, is rolling out an integrated energy monitoring solution that merges ERP, MES, and WMS systems to transform energy from a fixed cost into a tracked production ingredient.
Breaking from traditional standalone energy monitoring software, Velika’s approach leverages the interconnected nature of modern enterprise systems to provide granular, real-time cost attribution. The solution directly links kilowatt-hour consumption to specific production lots, moving beyond opaque general ledger entries.
Architectural Synergy: The Single Source of Truth
The core innovation lies in creating a fluid data ecosystem where enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing execution systems (MES), and warehouse management systems (WMS) communicate natively. This eliminates the informational bottlenecks that plague fragmented software deployments.
When these three pillars of industrial IT operate in unison, the company achieves what industry professionals term a “Single Source of Truth.” This means the data in the office (ERP), the activity on the factory floor (MES), and the inventory movements in the warehouse (WMS) are no longer siloed but form a cohesive, real-time narrative.
This architectural shift is critical for accurate energy cost management. Without a physical-to-digital link, an ERP system cannot know the actual energy cost of producing an item, leading to distorted financials and missed optimization opportunities.
What This Means for Enterprise IT
The integration is not merely about data transfer; it’s about creating actionable feedback loops. An anomaly detected by the MES—such as a motor drawing excessive current—can trigger an instant notification in the ERP for management control and simultaneously prompt the WMS to suggest a different storage strategy. This reduces the need to use energy-intensive machinery for non-critical tasks.
From Production Line to Warehouse Floor: The Full Picture
The impact of this integration extends well beyond the production line, a fact often overlooked in energy optimization strategies. Much of energy waste occurs in logistics and unnecessary movements within the facility.
By integrating its WMS, MAGANET, Velika addresses this. An “intelligent warehouse” does more than just locate goods faster; it actively conserves precious resources.
The solution optimizes forklift routes and storage location management, directly cutting down on the time and energy—whether electrical or fuel—consumed by material handling equipment. It also manages lot tracking and expiration dates with precision, ensuring products don’t linger in temperature-controlled zones longer than necessary, thus optimizing the work of refrigeration units.
This precision reduces picking errors and returns, which minimizes "empty cycle" workloads—a notoriously difficult-to-detect source of energy drain in disconnected systems.
Why Personalization Defeats Standard Software
The source material emphasizes a critical point: no two food and beverage companies are identical. Off-the-shelf software often fails because it cannot adapt to a company’s unique process flows. Velika counters this by using its deep vertical expertise in the agro-food sector.
Its team tailors the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform to a client’s specific operational reality. This goes beyond simple technical configuration.
They analyze a client’s production processes to identify the critical points where energy most significantly impacts the final product cost. They then configure analysis dashboards to be intelligible and useful for the decision-makers who rely on them daily. Finally, the solution is integrated with existing plant machinery, making the energy monitoring function an operational extension of the production line itself.
This level of customization ensures that the system is not just a tool, but a fundamental part of the company’s operational DNA.
Platform Lock-In and the Open Ecosystem Question
This solution, built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ecosystem, leads to concerns about platform lock-in.
Velika’s Integrated Approach Centers Energy in Production
Velika’s integrated approach forces energy to the center of the production conversation, turning an abstract cost into a tangible, manageable variable by tightly coupling ERP, MES, and WMS data.
