Process chain evaluation for an overall optimization of energy efficiency in manufacturing—The welding case

Improving energy efficiency in manufacturing has to be considered holistically. When manufacturing processes are investigated and optimized in an isolated manner, one may neglect possible energy intensive pre- and post-processes, and thus may miss an overall optimum. Instead, the whole process chain has to be accounted for being able to find an optimum for the production of a certain product. The presented method for the evaluation of process chains therefore integrates a detailed analysis of the core as well as necessary pre- and post-processes, and enlarges this approach for a factory wide optimization. Single steps of a process chain are energetically modelled using a detailed mapping of each step's energy profile, generalized by investigating the product variant related energy profiles for each equipment. Welding processes are used as examples to exemplify this approach. The result provides the base for improving the energy efficiency of a factory as well as for calculating the embodied energy of a product, fostering the energetically optimization of its manufacturing processes.