Forging Plant Uses PWA to Find Nearly $800,000 in Potential Annual Savings

September 21, 2004

Jernberg Industries, Inc.: Forging Facility Uses Plant-Wide Energy Assessment to Aid Conversion to Lean Manufacturing (PDF 987 KB) Download Acrobat Reader

While converting to lean manufacturing, Jernberg Industries conducted a plant-wide assessment at a forging plant. Seven projects were identified that could yield annual savings of $791,000.

In an effort to streamline its manufacturing processes at its Chicago, Illinois, forging plant, Jernberg chose to convert from its traditional batch methods to lean manufacturing. The company had already begun the conversion, so the plant-wide assessment (PWA) was well-timed to best address energy-intensive processes that probably would need to be changed. The assessment team also evaluated the efficiencies of the primary support systems (e.g., compressed air, cooling water). The team used a process simulation model to evaluate the impacts of converting existing batch production to a lean manufacturing operation and employed a systems approach to identify trends and energy use distribution for plant equipment. Seven projects were identified that together could save Jernberg about $791,000 per year in costs, more than 64,000 MMBtu per year in fuel, and more than 6 million kWh per year in electricity.