How does your plant or factory rate for efficiency?
Most engineers would probably reckon they were pretty efficient.
But did you know that it’s estimated that two-thirds of currently installed pumps use up to 60% too much energy? Or only 55% of energy used to heat steam is turned into useful heat output? Or that half the compressed air generated in manufacturing plants is actually put to productive use?
The reasons for all this waste aren’t tricky to pin down, as articles in this issue explain. Pumps are often oversized or the fixed speed type; no-one thinks much about them until they fail, and then replaces them like-for-like. Around 30% of the energy input into a steam system is lost in steam traps and boiler stacks – the majority of which is preventable. Up to 30% of compressed air is lost in leaks, another 15 to 20% in non-manufacturing uses such as handheld blowguns for cleaning, and the rest by operating the system at excessively high pressure.
You might think preventable losses of this size would provide enough of an incentive in themselves to do something to reduce or eliminate them as far as possible, but it appears this isn’t the case. If an additional incentive is needed, then perhaps the 18th edition of the IET Wiring Regulations will provide one.
For the first time, the new regs go beyond looking solely at safety requirements, to include a new section designed to make sure energy efficiency is incorporated into electrical installation designs as a prerequisite.
It incorporates advice on such matter as LED lighting, which can help reduce lighting energy bills by as much as 90%, as well as covering more intricate concerns such as power factor correction, and guidance on best practice in the installation of transformers and cables.
In short, it’s a reflection of a growing sense of urgency about energy efficient technology and smart installations, which will make operators of manufacturing plant and processes much more aware of the need to reduce consumption – on grounds of cost as well as environmental sustainability.
It’s easy, no doubt, to lose sight of such matters when business is going well and there’s no particular urgency about saving costs. And the EEF’s Regional Manufacturing Outlook report for 2018 (see News) shows the last 12 months have been emphatically positive for manufacturing, with positive balances for output and orders.
But, the EEF warns, don’t count on it lasting. The next 12 months are overshadowed by gathering uncertainty, with the triple threats of a disorderly Brexit, global trade tension arising from the imposition of tariffs by the Trump administration, and weak investment.
And productivity still shows a mixed picture, with significant variations from region to region. The North West, Scotland and the South West perform well, while London & the South East and the Midlands regions fall well below the UK average.
Amid all this uncertainty, the most efficient operations will be in the strongest position. The losses mentioned above can be eliminated almost at will, with little investment required and a short payback time. There could hardly be a more opportune time to start work on fixing them.
Your staff – an untapped source of new skills
A key aspect of productivity is, of course, staff. And a longstanding concern in engineering and technology-related industries is a chronic shortage of skilled and qualified staff. The difficulty of attracting enough people into engineering remains an issue, with a new survey by EngineeringUK reporting that girls of school age are less likely to think that it would be possible for them to become engineers than boys (see News).
Efforts to change perceptions continue, but that is a long-term task. But, as Dennis McCarthy points out in this issue, that’s not the whole story. In the short term, another untapped source of skills is being neglected. While worrying about attracting new engineers, many organisations aren’t using their existing staff to the full.
The most successful companies, he argues, identify their skill gaps and actively help existing staff acquire new capabilities to fill them. Moreover, in-house learning is essential for keeping pace with technological developments. And opportunities for development and greater job satisfaction are powerful motivating factors for STEM workers – and hence equally powerful for staff retention. See Dennis’s full article for plenty more food for thought.
David Fowler MIStructE, Editor
david@maintenanceandengineering.com
@MaintOnLine