The notion of energy performance has gradually been extended from the purchase of energy to the use of industrial tools and utilities. Today, the energy performance project goes beyond optimising the efficiency of energy carriers; the distribution and use of energy at each stage of the production chain involves making all stakeholders aware, without any hierarchical distinction.
Digitalisation supports industries in implementing their performance project, in order to reduce their energy costs and the carbon footprint of their work.
A commitment for everyone, a new challenge in energy performance
Until now, the operators of production tools did not have any concrete figures on the energy management of their areas of operation: they therefore had no means of taking part in the broader project of decarbonising their plant.
“If an operator is not aware of the energy cost of their work, they will not be able to adjust their activity to reduce their impact,” explains Yann Le Bail, Global Alliance Director at METRON.
Through digitalisation, the electron is tracked from its arrival on the company's network to the end of the chain: all possibilities are analysed according to the context at extremely precise levels.
Energy transparency provides an overall and cross-business vision, which is useful to decision-makers, as well as daily and real-time monitoring, which is vital to operators who are continuously improving the performance of their area and participating more broadly in the company's project.
“The digitalisation of energy flows makes it possible to provide the right indicators to the right people at the right time, in order to react immediately, and not just make corrections retrospectively.”
Towards better individual performance
Digitalisation gives everyone the information they need to adjust how they work. Operators are better informed thanks to a dashboard specific to their area and are personally rewarded for their involvement in their site’s overall decarbonisation project. The production tools are better understood, and the operators are constantly learning, able to act in real time on their production tools and be proactive.
“Increasing operators’ awareness increases individual motivation and performance, benefiting the overall ecological project, which makes sense to them”.
The performance culture: objectives and results
“A major challenge for the industrial performance manager is to unite teams to seek improvements in energy performance.”
At managerial level, digitalisation allows the implementation of clear and quantifiable objectives per employee and per team. The Site Manager monitors everyone's progress in real time. They identify the managerial actions to be put in place to further engage operators, such as operational recommendations, additional training or adapted objectives. The digitalisation of energy flows thus brings more fluidity to exchanges within the same site.
“The centralisation of all these recommendations and actions really helps management to motivate, engage and measure the overall performance of the industrial site. By involving people at the heart of the action, industrialists are developing a genuine energy performance culture.”
Towards a strategy of industrial excellence
The energy performance of a site can also spread beyond the plant. On the scale of an industrial group, the results obtained are also shared between all the digitalised sites, for example, what has been learnt, best practices and operational results. The energy performance culture is supported by the tool that makes it possible to structure, to read tangible results and to share the same frame of reference on all sites.
“Learning is becoming exponential: a real strategy of operational excellence can be implemented within the group” concludes Yann Le Bail.
How far along are you in your energy performance strategy?
METRON assists industrialists in their energy performance and decarbonisation projects. Whatever your level of digitalisation, contact us to find out more:
