8 Ways Manufacturers Can Improve Their Energy Efficiency

Megan R. Nichols,
Freelance Technical Writer

Energy efficiency has become an increasingly important topic for today’s manufacturers. In addition to the pressure from stakeholders urging them to make more sustainable choices, companies know that better energy efficiency results in positive effects for the bottom line.

Fortunately, no matter how far you are into implementing energy efficiency measures, making progress is easier than you may think. Here are some practical ways to get started.

1. Switch to Energy-Efficient Lighting

Swapping out a factory’s conventional light bulbs for energy-saving ones could offer an assortment of benefits ranging from better brightness to more usage time between replacements.

LED lighting lasts an average of three to five times longer than the fluorescent lighting often used in manufacturing facilities. Such options are also superior in terms of lumens per watt compared to older and less-efficient types of lighting.

You can also boost the energy-saving effects of the lighting with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. For example, they might automatically turn off when a section of a factory becomes vacant.

2. Get an Energy Audit

Perhaps some people at your company suspect that certain pieces of equipment or processes use too much energy. A professionally conducted audit can verify if that is the case. Even better, the results of the evaluation can give a company reliable strategies for reaching goals.

Relatedly, part of the plan for achieving better energy efficiency in factories often includes using renewables, such as solar power. If so, an energy audit could specify things such as what type of renewable energy company representatives should pursue and the kinds of outcomes they could expect from such installations.

3. Address Air Leaks

Manufacturing facilities that use compressed air may have unaddressed sources of waste due to air leaks. Compressed air systems are among the least energy-efficient pieces of equipment in manufacturing due to the amount of power required to compress and distribute the air.

Inadequate maintenance can reduce an air compressor’s performance, plus make it more likely to have costly leaks. Company leaders should start by determining how they can reduce the overall usage of an air compressor by running it for the shortest amounts of time possible for the tasks at hand.

Additionally, it’s crucial to manage any suspected or confirmed air leaks. Statistics indicate that leak rates can be as high as 20%-50% of a factory’s total compressed air production capacity. However, keeping equipment well-maintained allows plant managers to become aware of such issues faster, shortening the overall time that they cause problems.

4. Choose Your Components Wisely

Moving forward with effective energy efficiency measures also requires understanding how the characteristics of particular components have an overall effect on how something performs and the overall lifespan you can expect.

For example, chemical manufacturing plants, as well as entities in the oil and gas industries, often use dry-type transformers. An option with 100% copper windings will conduct electricity better and last longer than other materials.

Company leaders who are getting ready to upgrade existing equipment or invest in new models should frequently raise questions about the energy efficiency of the options that interest them. Many spec sheets give likely scenarios of how particular components could save money or otherwise offer superior performance.

5. Deploy a Fault Detection and Diagnostics Solution

Energy efficiency in factories can sometimes begin at an acceptable level, then get progressively worse. This tends to happen due to unidentified equipment faults that compromise energy efficiency. In the worst-case scenario, such flaws cause unexpected failures that disrupt operations.

However, manufacturing plant managers can take a more proactive approach by investing in fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) products. These solutions connect to energy-consuming equipment and identify abnormalities that cause the power requirements to rise over time. For example, a continuously operating motor could consume 20-25 kilowatt-hours per day, making it wise to change the mode so that it only runs in response to another control system.

As the second part of the name implies, FDD products diagnose issues rather than merely telling users that they exist. Becoming more aware of problems lets factory decision-makers feel more confident about how to save money in their facilities by eliminating guesswork.

6. Recycle Waste as an Energy-Saving Venture

Recycling common industrial wastes may not initially factor into energy-saving efforts, but it should. Manufacturing companies frequently recycle materials such as aluminum because it reduces the need to create them from scratch.

When recycling makes production less time- and labor-intensive, energy savings are among the benefits that company leaders notice. Moreover, when a company starts a recycling program, it can be an excellent way to encourage employees to understand how the ways they handle scrap materials can have positive effects on sustainability.

7. Learn From What Peers Do

It’s not always easy for company leaders to know how their energy efficiency measures stack up to what others do to achieve the same goal. However, peer benchmarks can provide increased visibility by letting company representatives know when they’re doing well or still have significant improvements to make.

Researchers studied the use of benchmarks in food manufacturing and found that data visibility could aid machine designers in coming up with more efficient industrial products, such as refrigerators. They pointed out that peer benchmarking demonstrated the capability to spark positive changes in other applications, but not those associated with industrial machines.

However, the authors of the research paper acknowledged that energy-efficiency benchmarks are not widely available within the manufacturing sector yet, and getting to the point where they are will require stakeholder cooperation. Even so, manufacturing companies can stay aware of what competing companies in their sector do to get better energy efficiency and investigate whether similar measures may provide payoffs for them, too.

8. Educate Employees About the Roles They Play

Workers don’t always immediately see how they contribute to energy efficiency in factories. That’s why an education program could prove crucial for getting employees on board and eager to help with a business’s goals.

For example, people often don’t realize that putting a piece of machinery into standby mode may not be the best choice if it will not get used again for several days. Consider how you can give members of the workforce straightforward and easy-to-apply tips that promote energy consumption within the organization.

Providing incentives for participation could also work well. Adjusting to new habits is not easy, even when people know that doing it will help save energy. However, taking a lighthearted approach when encouraging people to change their ways is often a smart early step to urge adoption. Adding a gamification aspect is one often-used possibility.

An Ongoing and Customized Process

These eight suggestions are excellent starting points for helping manufacturing companies achieve energy-saving goals. However, leaders at those facilities should keep in mind that the best strategies are those custom-made for the companies that use them.

Additionally, people should strive to think of better energy efficiency as an ongoing path rather than a destination. Getting the best results typically involves doing things in stages and adopting a mindset of continual improvement.