Electrical Infrastructure
Our Journey
The provision of best practice electrical infrastructure and management within an advanced engineering Joinery manufacturing business commands respect and a significant investment to best position Derwen for the future.
At Derwen Joinery, exceptional craftsmanship goes hand in hand with an ambitious, forward-thinking approach to workshop performance. With high-powered timber machinery at the heart of our operation, understanding and managing energy use is key to driving efficiency, supporting sustainability and strengthening long-term resilience.
As part of this commitment, we recently delivered a targeted programme of energy-efficiency improvements, beginning with the installation of a new energy monitoring and logging system. While compact in scale, this smart technology is unlocking powerful operational insight and creating a strong foundation for smarter decision-making across the workshop.
Until now, our understanding of electricity use was limited to general utility readings. Useful as they were, they could not reveal which machines or processes were driving the greatest demand. For a busy joinery workshop producing bespoke doors, windows, staircases and specialist timber components, that level of insight is essential to improving performance, reducing waste and planning investment with confidence.
The insight gained is already shaping meaningful improvements across the business, from inverter drives and soft starters on selected machines to power factor correction that reduces reactive power, alongside an upgraded incoming electrical supply designed to support future growth. Together, these enhancements are helping Derwen Joinery build a more efficient, capable and future-ready operation.
Key Deliverables
Load assessments/Energy Metering
Derwen carried out a series of load assessments to build a clear understanding of overall electricity demand, identify any supply constraints and confirm that the existing utility connection was being used efficiently. This led to the installation of a dedicated energy metering system with cloud-based software that monitors and records total consumption, while also enabling detailed analysis of the energy use of individual machines.
Incoming supply upgrade
The data captured through the initial load assessments and ongoing energy monitoring, combined with our future growth plans, highlighted the need to review the capacity of the incoming electrical supply.
The requirement for an urgent upgrade was identified as a critically important step in ensuring Derwen’s manufacturing facility be positioned with a resilience, reliability supply inclusive of headroom capacity to support both current operations and future expansion.
Power factor correction unit
A power factor correction unit was installed to address the reactive power generated by several high-powered motors across the workshop. By improving power factor, the system helps the electrical installation operate more efficiently, reduces unnecessary demand on the supply and supports a more stable and cost-effective overall energy profile, safeguards the electrical grid and makes best use of valuable power generation.
Variable speed drives/ soft starters
Variable speed drives and soft starters have been installed on selected machinery to improve start-up performance and overall efficiency. These measures reduce sudden peaks in electricity demand when equipment starts, support smoother operation and promote more controlled, efficient power use throughout the workshop. Variable speed drives also allow machine speeds to be adjusted for optimum operational and energy performance.
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