Energy savings: 7 Limousin companies work together to achieve ISO 50001 certification
What do industrial companies, a carrier, a printer and a manufacturer of baby food have in common? High energy consumption. Aware of this problem, 7 companies in the Limousin region seized the opportunity to receive support in deploying an energy management system. It’s an opportunity for them to implement the right actions and reduce their consumption.
This support is part of the CCI Limousin program launched in October with the support of the Limousin region and ADEME, in partnership with the AFNOR group.
Bledina, Borg Warner (automotive subcontractor), Polyrey (manufacturer of technical and decorative laminates), Transport René Madrias, Fabrègue Imprimeur, A.M.I.S. (automotive parts) and Kaliceram (ceramic sinks) are being helped to implement an ISO 50001 approach.
How should the company be organized? How to involve management? Why define an energy policy? The first training course, held in October 2014, was useful for company representatives to grasp the first part of the standard on energy management. The aim was to ensure that each project manager had all the information they needed to launch the process internally.
GROUP WORK AND INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
The collective phases that are proposed enable all the companies to discuss their ownership of the approach. That’s how, in December 2014, the group of companies was welcomed by automotive supplier Borg Warner, a project participant and the first company in the Limousin region to achieve ISO 500011 level 1 certification.
Participants shared their respective progress stories. How can we define the beginnings of an energy policy? How do you identify and analyze energy bills? What are the consumption profiles by type of energy use? How do I create a counting plan? What is normal consumption? So many essential questions to which everyone was able to respond, or express their expectations. As each company is supported by an expert consultant, sharing time is appreciated and serves as a milestone.
In March 2015, a new workshop enabled companies to present their energy balances, as if they were in an audit situation. All participants noted that the implementation of an energy management approach leads to precise inventories of their energy use. Companies have demonstrated that they have already carried out in-depth work and identified potential gains. All of them have begun to take action on the technical (infrastructure) and management fronts, to highlight and improve employee behavior that has an impact on energy consumption.
THE PROGRAM FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS
Recently, all participants have benefited from a new training cycle. The aim was to help them understand the second part of the ISO 50001 standard, which focuses on continuous improvement. They will now roll out this approach which, like a quality approach, is based on the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) approach and the analysis of energy use and consumption. The objective? Identify significant areas of energy use and potential for improvement. In fact, ISO 50001 sets as a priority the continuous improvement of an organization’s energy performance, as a measurable, long-term objective, and calls for the development of energy cost accounting.
In June and September 2015, two working groups will be set up to enable companies to exchange views on energy purchasing (of energy services and materials), staff training and awareness-raising, and plant and equipment design.
At the end of this operation, companies will be ready to apply to a certification body and claim an attestation of compliance with the ISO 50001 standard. Why? Not least because certified companies are seeing significant gains, with energy bill savings of up to 25%. For larger companies, certification is a way of avoiding the regulatory obligation to carry out an energy audit by December 5, 2015.
Once the program is over, a new edition will be launched in the Limousin region, to support new companies in meeting the challenges of energy efficiency.
