Demand Management, Energy Efficiency, Industrial - June 29, 2016
Nissan, Toyota teams uncover $600k+ in energy cost savings opportunities
The identified potential savings were the result of recent "treasure hunt exchange," conducted at two manufacturing plants, according to a recent blog post from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The DOE highlighted the collaboration between teams from Nissan North America and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, both of which are Better Plants Challenge partners, as they worked to identify new methods for cutting energy use at their powertrain plants in Tennessee and Alabama in May. Through the treasure hunt exchange, the DOE said, each company was able to leverage the respective skills of their employees and experiences in each other's plants.
The first phase of the exchange uncovered energy cost saving opportunities at Nissan's Decherd, Tenn., plant totaling approximately $284,000, according to the DOE. In phase two, the efforts of the combined teams yielded potential annual energy cost savings of more than $331,000 at Toyota's Huntsville, Ala., plant.
The teams at both sites, which included engineers, maintenance experts and operators, spent three days at each plant evaluating process and cross-cutting systems to uncover and quantify energy-saving opportunities. The teams were then divided into functional groups that each evaluated the most relevant areas for each plant.
In both plants, a facilities team assessed compressed air, lighting and HVAC systems. Toyota’s teams also evaluated their plant’s cooling towers, computer numerically controlled machining, or CNC, machining equipment on machining and assembly lines' Nissan's teams covered chillers, pumping systems and associated support equipment along with the CNC machines on their production lines.
"Because both companies’ employees’ possessed extensive knowledge of industrial energy efficiency, they were able to find and quantify a wide variety of opportunities ranging from lowering compressed air system pressure to shutting off unneeded equipment and installing variable frequency drives," the DOE said.
The Better Plants Challenge is a part of the DOE's Better Buildings group, which is a content partner of Smart Energy Decisions. The full blog post can be accessed here.
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