Excessive Steam and Water Consumption in Crystallization Strikes

$12,000–$18,000 per month (small-batch optimizations) from excess utilities, failed batches requiring reprocessing, and delayed product releases • $15,000–$22,000 per month (multi-location export validation) from redundant steam use, failed validation batches, slow time-to-market for export products, and water management costs • $42,900 annual (Direct steam overcost at 25% × ~$0.15/kg steam × 240 batches × 85 m³ pan × density factor; plus labor overhead for manual control at ~$22/hour × 0.5 hours/batch × 240 batches)

High-frequency batch runs with minimal real-time control; water-based fines elimination; manual refractometer checks every 30 mins; Slack updates between lab and production • Manual monitoring and adjustment of supersaturation via visual inspection, basic sensors, and operator experience logged in notebooks or Excel. • Manual observation, operator intuition, paper batch logs, trial-and-error adjustment of steam/water valves