Greenlane Biogas Case Study
Greenlane Biogas is the world’s largest biogas upgrader and the market leader in water-wash upgrading technology. Converting waste into biogas Greenlane Biogas provides the market with systems that can generate revenue while, at the same time, eliminate methane emissions that are ten times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.
The AdvanTec Industrial group provides turnkey manufacturing services as well as system optimization services to Greenlane Biogas. This occurs through the design, engineering and manufacturing phases of production and lead to a reduced cost of manufacturing, improved product serviceability and a longer product lifespan.
Cost Reduction
When the AdvanTec Industrial and the Greenlane Biogas teams looked to reduce the manufacturing cost it was clear the packaging of the system[s] provided the greatest opportunity for improvements. Traditionally relying on various configurations of ISO containers for enclosure solutions Greenlane and AdvanTec sought to solve the problem of having multiple enclosures at their client’s site. AdvanTec Industrial offered to integrate both the mechanical enclosure and the electrical enclosure onto a single skid and a single custom manufactured enclosure that would also enable the user to walk into the enclosure to service the equipment inside.
Despite the fact that ISO containers are relatively inexpensive, the amount of modifications and improvements necessary to convert the container into an enclosure for industrial equipment made the process labour intensive and the overall endeavour ultimately expensive. By moving to a new custom enclosure design Greenlane Biogas was able to do away with a heavily modified ISO container as a solution for its equipment enclosures and provide its clients with a single enclosure for two systems (electrical & mechanical) with a reduced site footprint and improved aesthetics.
Design For Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA)
With the new design of the enclosure achieving various operational improvements (lifespan, serviceability, aesthetics) the team at AdvanTec Industrial sought opportunities to add manufacturing improvements as a result of the enclosure redesign. These improvement can come through in how the enclosure is manufactured in itself and through the integration process of the mechanical and electrical systems in the prefabricated enclosure. AdvanTec Industrial began by manufacturing various components (i.e. pressure vessels) and sub assemblies (skids) and enclosure components (walls & roof) simultaneously so that completion of the system is in sync. Once the various components that make up the process system are completed they are integrated onto the open skid. This allows for easier integration and reduced labour hours due to the fact that the integration team is not operating in a confined space (i.e. ISO container).
While the components have been manufactured and integrated onto the already built skid the enclosure is already assembled and is ready to be dropped over the finished skid. For some projects this is feasible because the electrical portion of the system is a separate enclosure, while for some it is not and this manufacturing process is not feasible. Once the enclosure (walls & roof) have been placed on top of the completed & integrated skid system the prewired enclosure is simply connected to the connection points of the skid and the now connected system is completed.
This innovative approach to solving a common problem enabled Greelane Biogas to provide their truly unique system to their client at a cost equal to or less than a system integrated into a modified ISO container.
Scalable Manufacturing
This new manufacturing process for Greenlane Biogas enables AdvanTec to simultaneously manufacture numerous systems of this type with minimal disruption of their facilities. By building the various components separately either at the same location where the entire system is being integrated, or at another AdvanTec Industrial facility, enables the program to meet aggressive production ramps up should our clients have that need. Modularization of the various large subassemblies (skids & enclosures) enables AdvanTec Industrial to maximize the manufacturing space available and to enable seamless integration of the services provided.
We first worked with AdvanTec Industrial when our previous manufacturer got us into a difficult situation. AdvanTec Industrial not only finished our project, taking care of our customer, but they also did it in record time. Since then, AdvanTec Industrial has been our trusted partner on all our projects. AdvanTec Industrial is a key part of our Team.