Are you haunted by the thought of your manufacturing business’ electrical footprint, but don’t know what you can do to reduce it? Put those worries to rest and make your process a green manufacturing process.
It’s an all-around beneficial decision because the greener your business goes, the more “green” your business saves. In this two-part article, we will be giving 10 tips to make your manufacturing business greener. As a disclaimer, these tips don’t have to be implemented all at once; as a matter of fact it’s probably best that they be done as needed and at your company’s pace.
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Find out how much energy you’re using
The first step to cleaning up your is to audit the amount of energy your company is using for lighting, production and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). It is an important first step because it’s the easiest way to determine when and where you’re wasting energy so they can be cut down. This can either be done internally or by an outside specialist.
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Shed some new light on the situation
Typically facilities use a lot of lighting to properly oversee production. So much so that if their standard lights were replaced with energy efficient ones their energy consumption could potentially be cut in half, which won't look too bad when you get your energy bill. It's also a good idea to create lighting schedules or motion censored lights that will turn off automatically when there's no activity.
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Check up on monitors and drives
Electric motors are another energy guzzler for many manufacturers, using an average of about 70% of the total consumption. With that in mind, using an alternative, energy-efficient motor has the potential for great savings not to mention a reduction in released air pollution. You can also try putting variable frequency drives on your motors to use 30% less energy.
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Use an Environmental Management System
The first thought coming to your head may be “What is an Environmental Management System (EMS)?” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, an EMS is a “set of processes and practices that enable an organization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency.” An example of this would be lean manufacturing or the six sigma. Both of these methods help organizations reduce waste while increasing productivity and can be in-house or by bring in a 3rd party company that specializes in EMAs.
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Implement Cloud Manufacturing Tools
The verdict is in and the hopes of environmentally friendly business have been realized, the cloud is good for the environment. According to a study done by Microsoft, cloud computing reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions by at least 30% in comparison to traditional, on-premise business management systems. This gives yet another reason to move to the cloud because everybody loves a team player that is environmentally cautious, especially consumers.
Stay tuned for part-two of the "10 Tips for Manufacturers to Go Green" coming out next week.
Clients First is an advocate of manufacturers who are looking to make their business thrive. With customers all over the U.S. and the world, Clients First knows how to cater to a variety of business environments. We provide the best finance and operations solutions for manufacturers, project based manufacturers and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul, and professional businesses. Call us at 800-331-8382 or email sales@clientsfirst-tx.com and ask about our Acumatica and Dynamics AX offerings.
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by Clients First
