Providing energy data and information for sustainable manufacturing systems by Energy Cards

Abstract

and resource efficiency, as main parts of sustainability strategies, have become important objectives for industrial companies. For designing sustainable, energy-efficient manufacturing systems and processes, new or improved tools and methods focusing on efficiency are necessary. Detailed but also manageable data, information and knowledge are required for efficiency improvements. This leads to the need to illustrate the issue energy in a tangible and visible form. Management, as an organizational instrument, helps to consider efficiency in daily planning and operation activities. Metering supports the continuous acquisition of data. Labels are simple tools for benchmarking similar goods. However, they are not available for different industrial systems of a factory. The presented tool Energy merges data of a system and enables the transfer of data, information and knowledge in a structured and clear manner and directly to the shop-floor. In this article, the core concept and the structure of the Cards are described. In addition, possible implementations and an example for determining demands are also presented. In context of energy-efficiency, comprehensive data and information are required for planning, analyzing and optimization of systems and processes in factories.Energy Management, Metering and Labels are common tools to provide data and information.Energy are a new type of an instrument which merges data and information in structured and clear manner.