Kaizen events are key to reducing energy consumption

At manufacturing plants, one of the biggest expenses is energy usage. Seemingly everything requires some sort of energy usage, whether it's the gasoline burned during the transportation of materials or electricity consumed to run a production line. Electricity is a big offender in that regard, representing 62.5 percent of a plant's energy bill, according to the Industrial Assessment Centers at the Department of Energy (DOE).

While there are numerous approaches that manufacturers can take to lowering their energy bills and reducing consumption, a particularly useful one is holding Kaizen events. Kaizen events are held among employees and managers and involve the discussion of work processes through the lens of Lean operational procedures.

During these events, everyone gets together with the end goal of improving a specific area or section of operations. Each Kaizen event should have a leader who drives discussion, a clear objective for that session, a timeline for the event to follow, support from upper management at the company and a conclusion that leads to an actionable solution.

“Kaizen events can often improve process efficiencies from 20 percent to 100 percent in two to three sessions,” explains Pallet Enterprise. “These continuous improvement events are perhaps the most significant step in this methodology because it requires functional teams to analyze the current energy consumption status.”

At the conclusion of a Kaizen event, businesses need to evaluate the course of action that was decided upon. Regular measurement will help companies ensure they are reducing their energy bills and identify ways these plans could be improved in the future.

“As is the case in every continuous improvement project, sustaining and motivating personnel is always a difficult endeavor,” the news source adds. “The team leader should state clear goals and specific outputs for each meeting.”

Kaizen events: investments for the future

One problem many companies have with Kaizen events is the misconception that they are unproductive – employees could be doing their jobs, rather than discussing them. However, in the majority of cases, Kaizen events tend to be investments in the future of a company and end up paying for themselves posthaste.

It's a matter of losing a bit of productivity now for massive benefits in the future. As Pallet Enterprise noted, many manufacturers can save upward of 20 percent on their energy bills after conducting one of these meetings.