Lean energy efficiency: scenario analysis of a refrigerator plant application

Abstract

Energy concern is increasing in the manufacturing companies implementing the most recent technologies. Energy is a major input for many industries and therefore, within the definition of Industry 4.0 new energy efficiency strategies are defined. Energy flexible processes and waste-to-energy are well-known strategies since they are easily implemented in any manufacturing site. Reduction in energy consumption is also facilitated by the preventive maintenance and renewal of the technologies using energy resources. This study aims to apply a lean production method Value Stream Maps (VSM) on energy consumption levels of the processes to evaluate the decision of technology and/or process change. Processes which use energy excessively when compared with the industry average, will be considered as a bottleneck. Using the value stream maps for energy use is accepted as “Lean Energy Efficiency”. Parameters determined by the preparation of these maps will be enriched by interdependencies determined using the Bayesian Belief Network, which will support finding the priorities among the new efficiency activities. This technique will facilitate the decision of repair or buy through priority scenarios showing the possibility of a decision in each scenario. The combination of the Lean Energy Efficiency Method and the Bayesian Belief Network Method will assist the decision-makers in developing more informed and knowledge-based strategies. The case study is realized in a refrigerator factory handling the energy consumption of different departments. Consequently, these findings could be used as a roadmap for the technology renewal investment decisions made by the firm.