We’ve been working with manufacturing businesses of all sizes for years so know a thing or two about reducing their energy costs.
Production-led businesses often incur massive energy costs so several small cost cutting efforts can add up to a significant saving. In addition to that, Covid-19 has changed traditional operations, so businesses are having to adjust quickly to new flexible shift patterns which can provide energy cost saving opportunities if managed in the right way.
With all that in mind we’ve pulled together a Top 5 Energy Saving Tips for Manufacturing to help you find ways to cut your energy costs down.
1. Energy Management Reporting
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. By understanding your consumption data, you can analyse your site's energy performance to identify any unexplained energy spikes to help eliminate energy waste. KPI’s can also be introduced as benchmarks to help you monitor your ongoing energy performance.
2. Move Flexible Shifts To Off-Peak Periods
Electricity has peak pricing periods that companies need to be aware of and should try to avoid. By analysing the whole production process in line with the electricity market pricing, you can schedule specific shift patterns to off peak-times to take advantage of untapped savings.
3. Arrange An Energy Audit
An independent energy audit will provide recommendations for improvements and long-term savings through energy-efficient alternatives for lighting, heating, and processing equipment as well as behavioural change suggestions. Your report should also show any payback periods so you can decide if and when to invest.
4. Maintain Air Compressors
Most industrial businesses use compressed air which accounts for over 10% of electricity supplied, and as much as 30% lost through leaking systems. Compressed air leaking through a single 3mm hole could cost you over £500 per year.
5. Upgrade Lighting
Switch off lighting when not in use, upgrade to LED bulbs, and install motion sensors for security lights and other parts of your business. Motion sensors only light when there is a human presence in the area and can save between 13% to 50% whilst replacing incandescent bulbs to LED can save you up to 75% in lighting consumption.
Making Energy Management Easy For You
Unless you have an internal energy specialist, managing energy can be a minefield. A good business energy consultant will help you understand and optimise your energy use to meet your individual business needs. We can provide a complete energy review to help you decide where to start, and how to improve your ongoing energy consumption for your manufacturing plants.
Our team can also help you with any other energy requirements such as procurement and siteworks management to ensure you’re managing your energy in the most cost-effective way.
Give us a call or drop us a line today.