Process definition for the implementation of an energy efficiency program in manufacturing focused on key performance indicators

Scope of the thesis The development of this thesis starts with the objective of understanding the general overview of the energy consumption and energy efficiency issues in the manufacturing sector and the use of key performance indicators for the analysis and evaluation of the organization´s performance in this field. As energy is critical to economic and social development and is a valuable finite resource, the industrial energy demand varies across regions and countries and also depends on the level and mix of the economic activity and technological development among other factors; for those reasons the principal objective of this thesis is to define an energy efficiency program focused on key performance indicators and energy-related measurements, in order to help and to guide manufacturing organizations in measuring and setting indicators on its performance in this field with the aim of making the organization more efficient and aligned with sustainability objectives that nowadays is requiring worldwide. In this way, companies will be more competitive and the decision making process related to environmental, sustainability and economic concerns at different levels within the organization (strategic, tactical and operational) will be supported also with the information obtained from the energy consumption performance. Regrettably, there is no an ideal or established energy efficiency measurements or indicators that can be applicable to every case or every industrial sector, the main reason is that according to the information available about “energy efficiency” it is difficult to define exactly its meaning (Kanako, 2008), because it can vary according to the context in which the concept is used; As well, in the industry and manufacturing organizations the measurement of energy efficiency performance takes various forms, purposes and applications according to objectives, availability of resources, production mix, etc in each organization. Measurements and key performance indicators related to energy consumption in the industry, allows organizations in gaining an understanding of the major technological and economic influences on the total final energy consumption in its performance, indentifying where is located the energy consumption and which are the most energy consuming processes in order to make decisions about costs, improvements in procedures and technologies, etc related to this field. For the reasons described above, as mentioned before, the purpose of this thesis is to give an understanding of the principal measurements and indicators use in the industry in this field, as well as its classification according to the decision levels in the organization, as a result an energy efficiency program definition is described in the chapter 3. Nevertheless, the current work will describe a process only related to the KPIs related to energy consumption, the limits and connections with other KPIs should be clarified from other sources.