Part 6 of 6: Energy Management Process

It’s time to wrap up this 6 part series detailing the process we use to developing a successful ISO 50001 compliant Energy Management process.  In this series I been sharing details behind the R5 Rapid Improvement Process model used by Allied Reliability Group to help companies identify, achieve, and sustain improvement gains in energy management.  ISO 50001 has gained much traction and attention from those looking to be responsible and gain competitive advantage by lowering their energy related costs.

In the final phase of this process we focus on “Realizing” the gains and fruits of our labor. The Realize phase is used to implement, measure, and train for sustained results.

As mentioned in previous parts, we have tailored this approach to either focus on a specific area or system within your plant (smaller implementation for controlled deployment), or it can be implemented site wide for a much wider implementation.  Either way, our goal is to identify real opportunities both quick wins and long-term project based improvements to reduce energy consumption, lower operation expenses, and position your company for sustained competitive advantage.

High level steps in this phase are shown below:

Let’s take a look at these two high level steps in the “Realize” phase.

• Implement Energy Improvement Plan  - Many are familiar with the typical assessment, analysis, reporting, and being left with hundreds of tasks to implement with no support or idea on how to accomplish.  This one fact is the graveyard of all initiatives.  Success only comes by implementing and changing the way we conduct business resulting in positive ROI’s.  We work hand-in-hand with your designated energy management team providing them with the support, training, coaching, and mentoring to accomplish each of the recommended tasks.

The completion of each task is critical to the success of the program.  To make task implementation go as smooth as possible, each task will have an implementation plan outlining:

• What’s needed
• What’s to be done (to-do’s)
• Who’s responsible for each step
• What’s the deadline

Anything less than this level of detail will slow or even derail the implementation process.

• Measure and Verify Performance - There is an old management adage that says, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”.  In other words, unless you measure something you will never know if it is getting better or worse.  Savings can occur in the form of either repetitive, reoccurring savings or one-time savings. Recorded before and after measurements are critical to eliminate the possibility of misrepresented or even unnoticed savings.

Measurement systems will be put into place to collect data and express results as standard Key Performance Indicating metrics.  These metrics will be compared to benchmark data to help the organization evaluate and measure progress toward its defined goals.  Integral inputs to the continuous improvement cycle are these Energy Management KPI’s.

It is important to communicate these metrics and the success of the program both up and down the organization.  People want to know how things are progressing and certainly like hearing the good news and how they are helping the organization become more efficient and environmentally responsible.  With energy management metrics in place, your organization will begin to recognize the directly proportional relationship between Equipment Reliability and Energy Efficiency.

• Training for Sustained Results - It is imperative that you and your team understand the key elements in sustaining positive results.  The major elements we have discovered over the years involve impacting the entire organizations beliefs and behaviors related to energy management.

Your organization must assume ownership of any improvement initiative, process, or program.  To sustain culture change, everyone must be active participants in the development and implementation.

Beliefs are vital to the ability to change and must be modified prior to any behavior change.  Education and knowledge transfer are keys to changing beliefs. This model incorporates education, followed by coaching and mentoring during implementation.  In doing so, we help your people become self-sufficient by transferring the knowledge and ability to them.

The most effective way to sustain change in your organization is to impact each and every level of the organization.  By utilizing dedicated, full-time employees trained to this Standard and the R5 model, we are able to deliver consistently and effectively instill long term successful and profitable change.

Continuous Improvement Cycle - The moment you stop looking to improve is the moment you open yourself up to competitors making inroads as they find ways to improve quality or reduce costs.  Perfection will never be achieved, and thus improvement is always possible.  The continuous improvement cycle is an effective team-involvement tool and forms the basis for a “lessons learnt” database and best practices, which are continually reinforced at the leadership level and reflected in changed KPI’s, updated business processes, and continual modeling and monitoring.  Rigorous application of the continuous improvement cycle often realizes step change while sharing lessons learnt through a knowledge management system ensures that change is sustained, despite leadership changes or staff turnover issues.

In closing this final part to this series of bogs, I want to point out where these steps in our R5 model align with the ISO 50001 standard.

• Competence, training and awareness (Section 4.5.2)
• Checking (Section 4.6)
• Monitoring, Measurement and analysis (Section 4.6.1)
• Evaluation of compliance with legal requirements and other requirements (Section 4.6.2)
• Internal audit of the EnMS (Section 4.6.3)
• Nonconformities, correction, corrective action and preventive action (Section 4.6.4)
• Control of records (Section 4.6.5)
• Management Review (Section 4.7)
• General (Section 4.7.1)
• Input to management review (Section 4.7.2)
• Output from management review (Section 4.7.3)

I hope this entire series has been informative and will you continue to follow this blog.  I will continue to share with you the many ways that we can improve upon our core business functions and how such improvements can lead to energy efficiency and sustainability.  As always, I appreciate the feedback so feel free to drop me a line at colsonc@alliedreliability.com.

Interested in more great blogs to follow?  Check out some from my colleague’s here: GPAllied’s Coach’s Corner

Part 4 of 6: Energy Management Process

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last shared with you some of the details behind the R5 Rapid Improvement Process model that we use to help companies identify, achieve, and sustain improvement gains in energy management. ISO 50001 has gained much traction and attention from those looking to be responsible and gain competitive advantage by lowering their utility costs.

In this part of the series, I want to discuss and highlight some of the main steps within the “Ratify” phase of the process. The Ratify phase is used to establish the picture of the future state and rally the team around the targeted performance improvements. The site Leadership/Sponsorship Team becomes aligned around four things;

• The vision for the future
• A prioritized list of improvement opportunities
• An implementation plan
• The financial business case for change

Once these items become the focal points, it gets easier for partnership agreements to be created between operational and support functions. In this phase, the energy team performs a risk analysis to help mitigate any issues that may arise with the new processes. Also, for success it is imperative that site leadership agree to relieve the focus area of traditional constraints which allows them to follow the new process and practices designed and implemented by the R5 process.

High level steps in this phase are shown below:

Back in the Rationalize Phase we identified areas of significant energy use and consumption along with opportunities for improving our energy performance. These opportunities provide us with the areas that we intend to focus our efforts. While we have identified key areas of opportunity, it is important to take note that many of the processes and procedures that we develop along the way will be used across the organization to drive success.

Let’s take a look at the high level step in this “Ratify” phase.

• System Selection for Controlled Deployment  - Starting a new initiative/program or expanding an initiative often leads to many tasks needing to be completed with insufficient resources. Recognizing the need to prioritize efforts based upon business impact and financial savings will not only increase the potential for success but many times is necessary and required to even begin such a journey. My personal experience tells me that it is vital to implement energy management programs in a way that pays for future rollout and minimizes the strain that can be applied to an organization attempting to tackle every opportunity at the same time.

We have all been there before; anxious and excited to get started and accomplish each of our tasks and goals. Passionate about what we do and trying to accomplish everything at the speed of light. All of these are driven by our desire to achieve excellence and prove we are capable of that which we set out to do. Again, my experience says, “slow down and deploy at a controlled pace for success”.
By prioritizing and selecting areas or systems to focus efforts, you will be able to create specialized teams (through competence, training, and awareness) with the expertise to evaluate, analyze, and identify real energy saving solutions that can be implemented immediately.

Some common and familiar systems to start with or begin analysis include the following:

• Compressed Air Systems
• Compressed Gas Systems Steam and Hot Water Systems
• Chillers
• Cooling Towers
• Air Handling Units and Air Distribution Systems
• Pumping Systems
• Building Electrical Systems
• Lighting Systems
• Process Equipment

I will make note of one last point before closing. If the success of the improvement initiative is dependent on employees adopting new behaviors then we must effectively communicate why the change is necessary to the business and how it will affect each employee. The focus of such communications should be to provide employees with the necessary information to make an affirmative choice to 1) embrace the change, 2) support the change process, and 3) take ownership for the changes after implementation. Ownership in this sense is when employees model those behaviors required to sustain the technical improvements.

As I noted previously, companies must take logical controlled steps to successfully implement such initiatives or programs across their organization.  To do so, I believe a prioritized effort based upon ROI is required to fully rollout.  I hope this concept has become clear from the discussion of the “Ratify” phase.  I have no doubt that it will continue to become obvious when I write next on the “Resolve” phase of the R5 process.

Similar to how I wrapped up the previous parts of this series, I want to point out where these steps align with the ISO 50001 standard.

• Energy Objectives, Energy Targets and Energy Management Action Plans (Section 4.4.6)
• Implementation and Operation (Section 4.5)
• General (Section 4.5.1)
• Competence, Training and Awareness (Section 4.5.2)
• Communication (Section 4.5.3)
• Documentation (Section 4.5.4)

I hope this has been informative and will you continue to follow this blog as next time I plan to discuss the “Resolve” phase of the R5 process. As always, I appreciate the feedback so feel free to drop me a line at colsonc@alliedreliability.com.