Energy is a significant chunk of every budget in the continuous process industries. With those costs rising faster than can be recovered down through the supply chain, companies must reexamine strategies for sourcing, manufacture and delivery.
Energy is not the only concern. Natural resources such as water, oil and grain, are either declining in availability or subject to massive fluctuations. Yet, 20 percent or more of natural resources, energy included, are wasted in most companies.
Improvement teams focused on energy usage can typically reduce costs by $200,000-$500,000 in a single week. But it’s not all about cost cutting and going “green.” Conservation cuts to the heart of LeanSigma, where teams focus on dramatic improvements in yield and flexibility with fewer resources.
Consider two recent kaizen events on different continents. One potato producer in a high desert region was suffering from margin squeeze and trapped in out-moded processes. Pulling water from an aquifer, the farm had always transported potatoes from field to package via water slides. Washing and moving the product simultaneously made sense until a kaizen team calculated the growing cost of using water to move potatoes in a high desert region. The line was redesigned and millions of gallons of water were saved.
Meanwhile, another more equipment-intensive food producer was grappling with a sudden steep rise in water usage and machine maintenance issues. A kaizen team went in to investigate and, within two days, team members discovered that steam traps had been completely neglected after a long-term employee had retired. Repairing broken traps and implementing new standard work saved $1 million per year.
Typical electrical waste in a production line.
Conserving natural resources has always been a core TBM value. Find out what years of “green” experience has taught us.
Industries we serve:
“Stabilizing energy-consuming processes and removing as much waste as possible becomes the goal—indeed the mandate—to remain a globally competitive manufacturer.”
