In the manufacturing industry, your process and production equipment is vital to your operations. And unsurprisingly, as these processes are the core to your business, your equipment is nearly always on – meaning you’re using a lot of energy, and therefore a lot of expense.

You might be thinking – ‘there’s no way we could reduce our energy consumption, or our bills, we can’t have any equipment downtime’ – firstly, you’re wrong, there are ways. And secondly, you wouldn’t need to have any equipment downtime, none of the following steps would impact on your production process, or your supply chain.

It’s all about being smarter with your energy consumption…so here are five tips on energy saving in the workplace:

1 – Switch off when not in use

Machinery, no matter what kind, is integral to your process, but the longer that they run for, the hotter they will get, which means they work harder, using more energy, costing you more. You have the power – excuse the pun – to alter this.

By switching off your equipment during breaks, at lunch and at the end of every day, you’ll be giving your machines the well needed time to cool down. If you label all of your switches and ensure that your staff are properly trained too, you can be rest assured that nothing will be turned off that must always be left on.

A 50kW motor turned off for an hour a day could save over £1,425.

2 – Keep it clean

If you keep your equipment clean, then it can run better, simple. Dirty machinery will get much hotter, a lot quicker, causing it to use more energy – and also increase the risk of a breakdown, which is not what your business needs.

Making sure that your machinery is clean will also allow it to run closer to its optimum – this will also be helped by experimenting with the settings of your equipment. If you can establish what the optimum settings are, such as the speed of fans, you will reduce the amount of energy you’re using, but not affect your production process.

Reducing the speed of a motor by just 20% can half its energy consumption.

3 – Look after the ‘fourth utility’

In the manufacturing industry, compressed air is often described as the ‘fourth utility’ and is an essential to the operation of many production processes. But did you know that…

Compressed air can be responsible for 10% of your energy bill, half of which can be due to leaks?

You need to look after your compressed air. This means that you should ensure that there’s adequate ventilation around the compressor, improving the machine’s efficiency. And also that you set the pressure at the lowest possible level for each application – just by making a minor change in pressure of 10%, could lead to 5% energy savings.

4 – Monitor your machinery

If you monitor the energy consumption of all of your machinery, you will be able to see if there are any parts that need replacing, or how you can optimise the use of those that are more efficient.

You need to take into account the life of your machinery…and by that we mean, consider replacing a part after several smaller repairs, as after every repair, the machine will become less efficient, using more energy, costing you more money.

When replacing any of your equipment, try to spend that little bit extra to make sure you’re purchasing the most energy efficient model that you can. While it might cost you a little more in the beginning, the energy savings will benefit your business in the long run.

5 – Invest in renewable energy

Depending on where your business is located, the chances are that you’ll have a lot of unused roof space or land, making you the perfect candidate for renewable technology.

By making that jump, you will have the ability to significantly reduce the costs of your energy bills, much more than the other steps in this blog – you could even eliminate them all together.

As well as saving money in the long term, a renewable energy investment will also show that your business cares about being sustainable and wants to help the planet; which would really enhance your manufacturing brand.

Want to learn more about how you could save money on your energy bills? Download The Bowler Energy Guide to Saving Money on your Energy Bills and you will discover further ways you can reduce your energy consumption, and your bills.

Photo credit: halfrain