ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

Achieving high energy efficiency in manufacturing process is the only way to

achieve highest energy saving in any industry for a simple reason that maximum
energy is consumed by Production. There is a standard practice of calculating
energy efficiency in every factory, in terms of units of electricity per unit
production. Same method is also followed other sources of energy like fossil
fuels, Captive electricity & sources like water, compressed air, etc.
It is necessary that factory arrives at a proper production unit for calculation of
energy efficiency. This is because the products may vary in size, shape, weight,
material, etc. eg. Sq. mtr. of glass is used as production unit for calculation of
energy efficiency. This puts away all the possible variations in the product &
accurate energy efficiency is arrived at.
Units consumed per unit production is plotted on Y axis of graph against date on
X axis. Production figure is also plotted on the Y axis. These are necessarily
line graphs & give a clear picture of energy efficiency & actions required for
improvement.
Ideally in a plant, where conditions are under control, a typical graph as above
will show a fairly horizontal line / trend of units consumed per unit production
Where the conditions are not in control, the line / trend will be rising. Where
improvements are effective, the line / trend will be lowering.
In the graph, one can easily compare units consumed per unit production of a
day with another. The comparison is with respect to the production. Because,
ideally the energy efficiency should be same every day irrespective of production.
However, practically the energy efficiency is not seen same everyday due
following possible reasons.
1. Fixed losses in the equipment, those get distributed for each unit
produced. Hence lesser losses per unit produced when production is more
& vice versa. eg. Inefficient motors.
2. Rejection, the no. of good parts get reduced for the same input with same
energy consumption.
3. Rework, a hidden loss. Even though the input & output is same, the
energy consumed is more.
4. Energy consumption of utilities. Even though this is not a loss, the effect is
same as fixed loss. If all the machines are running the energy for utility is
distributed fairly. But if only one machine is running, it is other way round.
eg. Water pump.
5. Idling of machines. The machines might be idling due to negligence of
operator or set up requirements leading to energy consumption.

6. Improper production planning. If the shift output is less than the designed
output, this naturally leads to increased energy consumption. This is
especially true for heating & cooling processes. Under loading of
machines, non availability of material, etc. all categorize here.
As can be seen above, there is only one point that a Maintenance person can
control. Rest of the points do not come under his influence. Hence, it is very
necessary that this activity be driven by Production person. Even the
accountability of energy efficiency must be with Production.
The best way of monitoring & achieving the target is to monitor & control the
energy efficiency at each cell / line / machine, as applicable. This combining
together will lead to energy efficiency of the plant.
This is also a proven method to counter check rejection & rework. This is a fool
proof method since the data is sourced from Production & calibrated energy
meters.