It’s tough to be in manufacturing these days

It’s pretty difficult for manufacturers in North America to compete.  This is nothing new to this industry, but it doesn’t make it any easier to manage.  Recently in Ontario we have seen some very high profile manufacturing plants close and move operations to some other jurisdiction.  In both these cases, these jobs stayed within North America, but the plants were closed for the same reason…to reduce costs.

Energent was created when our manufacturing clients wanted to understand their energy use, with the ultimate goal of reducing their energy costs.  Since 2007, we have been working with manufacturing clients to help them achieve these two primary goals:

1. Better understand where their energy is being spent
2. How to reduce the cost of energy and maintain production

We receive the most interest from manufacturers when times are tough and they are looking for every possible savings opportunity.  Energy is rarely thought of as a manageable expense, but that is changing every day.

Electricity and Natural Gas are already an important part of most manufacturer’s budget considerations.  Most VP’s of production in manufacturing facilities pay their energy bills without consideration of how to change them.  We often hear

We can’t change production schedules to accommodate energy costs.  How else can we manage this expense?

Energy management comes in all forms, including altering productions schedules when that is feasible.  When it’s not, information on energy’s contribution to each production line highlights where savings can be found.

In a case study on our website showcases how a simple analysis of furnaces in different production lines produced savings in the first year of $240,000!  No change in production, no costly retrofits.  It was found that one furnace was significantly less efficient than the other furnaces, and once the furnace manufacturer repaired the furnace,  their natural gas consumption significantly dropped, with no change in production.

As manufacturers continue to look for innovative and impactful cost reductions, energy can become a manageable expense and a strategic opportunity to increase profits.  We are committed to supporting the manufacturing sector and will do what we can to offer cost-effective solutions that support this important economic engine.

Thanks for reading