Effect of Changing Operating Policies on Energy Use Consumption

Abstract

Energy efficiency continues to be an important focus in manufacturing in light of energy cost, environmental concerns and legislations. Reducing energy use is essential for maintaining manufacturing sustainability and competitiveness. This paper proposes a methodology for energy use analysis that employs analytical, simulation and statistical tools for the purpose of investigating the effect of changing operating strategies such as production scheduling and batch sizes on manufacturing line total energy use. The proposed methodology identifies potential energy savings and guides improvement efforts. A real case study of an automotive OEM supplier, which experiences system changes as new products are introduced is presented. The main pieces of equipment consuming energy in the entire production line were identified and the total energy consumption per product was estimated. The manufacturing line was modelled using discrete event simulation, and the effect on the line total energy consumption of different operating strategies including different batch sizes and production schedules were determined. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to analyze the effects of each operating strategy on the energy usage. The results reveal a relationship between changes in the operating strategies and energy use. This study demonstrated that optimizing the production line operating strategies can potentially lead to significant energy savings without the need for major modifications of equipment or machine setups. Practical examples which can guide industrial energy management practitioners in planning, assessing and improving manufacturing systems efficiently are provided. This study emphasizes the importance of including energy use data in manufacturing systems operating policy decisions.