Method for Increasing Energy Efficiency in Flexible Manufacturing Systems: A Case Study

In manufacturing systems, machines have been operated for years or decades without the concept of electrical energy efficiency, which has resulted in high manufacturing costs. In order to raise competitiveness by reducing energy costs, a method for systematically increasing energy efficiency is needed. This paper presents a new method to increase the energy efficiency of machine tools and equipment with computer numerical control (CNC) or a programmable logic controller (PLC). This new method was validated through application to three flexible manufacturing systems in the automotive machining industry as a case study.