Lean Energy Management

The term Lean Energy Management (in the German translation also lean energy management ) describes an energy management that is based on the principles of Lean Management . Lean Energy Management describes the entirety of the thinking principles, methods and procedures for the efficient use of energy in the entire value chain of industrial goods.

Term lean management

In the 1980s, MIT ( Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) conducted research as part of the International Motor Vehicle Program . When comparing the productions of different countries, the researchers recognized the great lead of Japanese production techniques . The approaches of the Japanese were taken up by many western companies and from this the management approach " Lean Management " with five central maxims developed. These are:

1. Proactive thinking: The future actions of the company are thought out and designed with foresight.
2. Sensitive thinking: The sensitive observation of the environment and the willingness to react to changes.
3. Holistic thinking: looking at the company as a whole with its complexity.
4. Thinking about potential: tap into and use all available resources.
5. Economic thinking: Economical management and avoidance of waste.

By observing these maxims and aligning the corporate culture with these ideas, it was possible for many companies to improve productivity through continuous optimization.

Deming's PDCA cycle

Particular attention is paid to avoiding waste (Japanese muda ), which is achieved by constantly questioning processes and making subsequent improvements. Since energy can also be “wasted”, it makes sense to include it in holistic lean management . The Japanese way of Kaizen (change for the better) is not based on a one-off introduction of a new system, but rather on the principle of small steps of attentive observation, perception and improvement, which in total increase the performance of the higher-level business process.

This continuous approach to process improvement was systematized in the 1950s by WE Deming in the PDCA cycle (or Deming circle ).

The PDCA cycle shown in the adjacent figure comprises the following four phases:

1. Plan (plan): Analysis of the current situation, agreement of measurable goals and elaboration of an improvement plan .
2. Do (implement): The employees concerned are informed and the plan is then implemented.
3. Check: Record the data in the specialist departments and check whether the specified goals have been achieved.
4. Act (improve): Check whether there is a match between target and actual. The results are either standardized or the “Do” and “Check” steps are run through until the target and the actual match. Once the improvement has been implemented, new goals are set for further improvement.

This PDCA cycle can be applied to almost all processes in a company and is therefore used in many management approaches. It also forms the basis for many standards, such as the quality management standard ISO 9001 and the derived standard for energy management ISO 50001 .

Development of Lean Energy Management from the Lean Management maxims

With increasing energy prices, this is increasingly becoming a cost-driving factor in many companies. As a result, companies are trying to systematically save energy and thus gain competitiveness through lower energy costs .

Despite the possible savings, it can now be seen that existing potential in manufacturing companies is mostly unused. The reasons can usually be traced back to a lack of specialist and methodological knowledge. The apparently high investments and long amortization times are also often a deterrent. To counteract this, an energy management system based on the maxims of lean management can be developed that specifically addresses these problems and fears. Consistent integration of the MTO model is particularly important here , which according to occupational psychological findings is a basic requirement for the fulfillment of a task. Particular attention is paid to the interfaces between the areas of people, technology and organization, the smooth functioning of which is the prerequisite for the energy management system to function.

Support through the organization and provision of the processes

A basic requirement for a functioning introduction of Lean Energy Management is the integration of the top management in the energy management. This occurs both as an impulse and as a clock throughout the entire change process. This only works through a high level of self-motivation of the management, which is responsible for maintaining the functionality of the management system over a long period of time. In addition, active participation by top management is an additional motivator for employees in the sense of a locomotive function. This legitimizes the employees to carry out the tasks assigned to them in energy management.

For the introduction of Lean Energy Management, the necessary processes are defined by the management and the competencies and tasks of the individual employees are determined. Employees with existing know-how are preferred , which can be expanded through continuous and appropriate training. An external consultant can assist you in setting up the structures. It should be noted that the administrative tasks should by no means be passed on to the consultant, as this reduces the importance of energy management in the perception of the employees. Rather, the consultant should perform purely supporting activities. In this way, the company maintains its independence from external employees who may put their own goals before the company's goals.

Motivation and involvement of employees

Measures to reduce energy consumption in particular require changes in the behavior of everyone involved in the company. In order to guarantee the long-term function of Lean Energy Management, a strong involvement of your own employees in the development is necessary. In addition, they must be able to independently identify and implement improvement measures.

In order to meet these requirements, the interface between people and technology has a special position. The technical tools that are used to measure energy consumption and, if necessary, also to control the measure, must be able to be operated and expanded by the employees. In this way, the functionality of the energy management can be maintained and expanded by the employees themselves.

In order to achieve a consistent approach, for example, existing decision-making methods for the purchase of new equipment must also be reassessed, taking into account energy efficiency . As a rule, this requires purchasing training to assess the purchases using a life cycle analysis .

Provision of technical tools

Technical tools are indispensable for energy management . They are used to measure and visualize energy consumption, which is the basic requirement for the successful implementation of energy-saving measures. A flexibly expandable system is particularly important here, which can be easily installed and operated by your own employees in the first step. This ensures long-term functionality through simple and independently feasible adaptations of the technology to changed framework conditions.

literature

• Franz J. Brunner: Japanese concepts for success: Kaizen KVP . 2nd Edition. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Vienna 2011.
• Susanne Koch: Introduction to the management of business processes: Six Sigma Kaizen and TQM . 1st edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 2012.
• Markus Majumdar: Dissertation: Socio-technical system analysis and assessment in medical practices . Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg im Breisgau 2004.
• Hermann J. Schmelzer, Wolfgang Stuhlmann: Business process management in practice: Satisfy customers - increase productivity - increase value . 6th edition. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2008.
• Oliver Strohm, Eberhard Ulich: Evaluating companies in terms of occupational psychology. A multi-level approach with special consideration of people, technology and organization. vdf Hochschulverlag AG, ETH Zurich, Zurich 1997.
• John Drew, Blair McCallum, Stefan Roggenhofer: Business Lean: Steps to a New Organization . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2005.
• Rita-Maria Züger: Team leadership - Basic leadership skills: Theoretical principles and methods with examples, practical tasks, repetition questions and answers . 2nd Edition. Compendio Bildungsmedien, Zurich 2007.
• Daniel Ernst: Development of Lean Energy Management for manufacturing companies . 2012 ( lean-energy-management.com ).

Web links

• Homepage for the master thesis "Development of a Lean Energy Management System for Manufacturing Companies"
• Article on Lean Energy Management from MBTech (PDF file; 508 kB)
• Lean monitoring system for lean energy management

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Daniel Ernst: Development of Lean Energy Management for manufacturing companies . 2012, p. 49 ( lean-energy-management.com ).
2. ↑ cf. Susanne Koch: Introduction to the management of business processes: Six Sigma Kaizen and TQM . 1st edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 2012, p. 133 .
3. ↑ cf. Franz J. Brunner: Japanese concepts for success: Kaizen KVP . 2nd Edition. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Vienna 2011, pp. 7 .
4. ↑ cf. Franz J. Brunner: Japanese concepts for success: Kaizen KVP . 2nd Edition. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Vienna 2011, pp. 118 .
5. ↑ cf. Franz J. Brunner: Japanese concepts for success: Kaizen KVP . 2nd Edition. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Vienna 2011, pp. 49 .
6. ↑ cf. Susanne Koch: Introduction to the management of business processes: Six Sigma Kaizen and TQM . 1st edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 2012, p. 118 .
7. ↑ cf. Hermann J. Schmelzer, Wolfgang Stuhlmann: Business process management in practice: Satisfy customers - increase productivity - increase value . 6th edition. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2008, p. 377 .
8. ↑ cf. Susanne Koch: Introduction to the management of business processes: Six Sigma Kaizen and TQM . 1st edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 2012, p. 119 .
9. ↑ cf. Daniel Ernst: Development of Lean Energy Management for manufacturing companies . 2012, p. 5 ( lean-energy-management.com ).
10. ↑ cf. U. Anstadt, Jürgen Krix, S. Böttcher: Avoiding Waste with Lean Energy Management . July 10, 2012 ( mbtech-group.com [PDF]). Avoidance of Waste with Lean Energy Management ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ cf. Oliver Strohm, Eberhard Ulich: Evaluating companies in terms of occupational psychology. A multi-level approach with special consideration of people, technology and organization. vdf Hochschulverlag AG, ETH Zurich, Zurich 1997, p. 10 .
12. ↑ cf. John Drew, Blair McCallum, Stefan Roggenhofer: Business Lean: Steps to a New Organization . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2005, p. 38 .
13. ↑ cf. Markus Majumdar: Dissertation: Socio-technical system analysis and assessment in medical practices . Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg im Breisgau 2004, p. 42 .
14. ↑ cf. Daniel Ernst: Development of Lean Energy Management for manufacturing companies . 2012, p. 49 ( lean-energy-management.com ).
15. ↑ cf. Rita-Maria Züger: Team leadership - Basic leadership skills: Theoretical principles and methods with examples, practical tasks, repetition questions and answers . 2nd Edition. Compendio Bildungsmedien, Zurich 2007, p. 127 .
16. ↑ cf. John Drew, Blair McCallum, Stefan Roggenhofer: Business Lean: Steps to a New Organization . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2005, p. 12 .
17. ↑ cf. Daniel Ernst: Development of Lean Energy Management for manufacturing companies . 2012, p. 49 ( lean-energy-management.com ).
18. ↑ cf. U. Anstadt, Jürgen Krix, S. Böttcher: Avoiding Waste with Lean Energy Management . July 10, 2012 ( mbtech-group.com [PDF]). Avoidance of Waste with Lean Energy Management ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ cf. Daniel Ernst: Development of Lean Energy Management for manufacturing companies . 2012, p. 50 ( lean-energy-management.com ).