Experiences integrating productivity, pollution prevention, and energy conservation including case studies
Energy auditors have traditionally considered energy conservation opportunities as being independent of other industrial opportunities, such as waste reduction/pollution prevention, and other management issues relating to productivity. The authors experience has indicated that energy conservation decisions are not viewed as independent by management in industry, and that many otherwise attractive modifications are not undertaken due to their relation to other production issues. The energy audit team cannot afford to be naive to the bottom line corporate mentality of the industrial managers involved. If a recommendation cannot be shown to have a secondary or even tertiary benefit to the company, the project cannot be sold to management. In this paper the authors introduce an integrated system approach in which the authors consider such factors as risk, internal yields, and defect rates, and a procedure the authors call industrial triage, using experiences gathered from assessments at a styrofoam cup manufacturer, glass bottle manufacturer, and a tire manufacturer. These companies are similar in that the raw materials can be recycled back into the product in the event these materials are spilled, misused, are incorporated in internal defects, or otherwise wasted. Such firms consistently report that they have little or no defects, since they do not have a specific expense in disposing of the defective product. Energy-only recommendations can have little or no impact on the productivity of a manufacturing plant. Worse, these recommendations can have a negative effect, or be considered too risky. In many industries, energy costs are a small portion of the production costs. Competition for capital is strong, and equipment purchases that increase production, or profits, will generally be favored. Internal defects have costs that are difficult to measure or estimate, such as labor for rework, moving or relocating the materials, space to warehouse raw materials or products, or even space to expand operations. An intimate knowledge of a corporations' burden, market share, and financial stability is necessary in order for the assessment team to gain the confidence of management; failure to do so can be disastrous. Excessive movement, redundant inspections, scheduling issues, and floor layout are critical issues, and ones that are sometimes impossible to evaluate during a short visit to a plant. Before an energy audit is made, much information must be gathered, such as tax rates and purchasing policies (including acceptable defect rates of the raw materials from suppliers). These issues are forcing the one-dimensional energy expert to expand into previously unchartered territories. This paper will attempt to illustrate some generic necessities, but also use actual experiences of the Office of Industrial Productivity and Energy Assessment team at Rutgers University in three facilities to highlight the industrial triage method of presenting the client with an integrated package of analysis of the efficiency of their production facility and methods.
- Research Organization:
- Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20001952
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970750-; TRN: IM0001%%389
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1997 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry, Saratoga Springs, NY (US), 07/08/1997--07/11/1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: In: 1997 ACEEE summer study on energy efficiency in industry: Proceedings, refereed papers, and summary monographs, 574 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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