Manufacturers 'must scream at supply chain to cut energy use'

Manufacturers must “scream” at their supply chains to highlight the importance of cutting energy consumption, a prominent researcher has said.

Company bosses must be “genuinely enthusiastic” and promote smart, efficient technology in suppliers’ factories – not just their own – said Steve Evans, director of research in industrial sustainability at the University of Cambridge. The move is needed to achieve real efficiency improvements, the professor said, as he chaired a workshop at the annual EEF conference in February. 

Manufacturing is changing, said Evans – digitalisation and automation open new possibilities every day. Happening alongside that transformation, he added, is rapid change in energy. “We are going to have to deal with intermittent supply from renewables, and match that against intermittent demand. We are building a clean energy system where the electricity is going to flow both ways in the grid. 

“We have got to make that energy system ready for the 21st century, and that change is happening in parallel to the changes that are happening in manufacturing. It is the interaction between those two systems that offers fantastic opportunities.”

Also present at the EEF workshop were Tony Walker from Toyota, Hiten Sonpal from Lombard and Peter Bance from Origami Energy, who neatly summarised the ongoing changes to electricity supply – “Centralised to decentralised, from dirty to clean… from dumb to smart.”

Speakers celebrated the Toyota factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire, for its outstanding performance on energy efficiency. The factory uses 70% less energy per car produced than when it opened 25 years ago. About a third of that energy reduction came from fostering an informed working environment and making small incremental changes, said Walker, including switching off devices when they are not in use, using machines less and making them more productive by doing several things in single movements. 

The other two-thirds came from big investments such as new decentralised systems, he added. The factory also has annual “energy challenge weeks,” when workers are asked for innovative energy-saving ideas – this year, it saved £135,000 and stopped 61 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. 

The company also sends engineers to visit suppliers and support energy-efficiency improvements, said Walker. “We do share the whole culture of motivating the workforce to engage in energy reduction.” 

However, Evans said even “leading-edge” manufacturers like Toyota must do more. “Until you scream at your suppliers, they will not adjust,” he said. “I would criticise Toyota for not helping to drive through its own knowledge. It’s not squeezing and helping the suppliers as much as it could.” 

The government could also do more by funding investments in control systems and smarter devices, said Walker.