Developing a Start-stop Production System Concept

Our cars have known energy efficiency. We take for granted they are efficient at different speeds, some are able to reuse energy and many have start-stop engine functionality. Critically they do not consume energy when they are not moving. This paper explores the challenges of working towards a start-stop production system concept. The base load energy and other resource consumption (whether during breaks or at night) are known to be a significant proportion of total consumption and attempts to reduce consumption span behavioural aspects through to technology limitations. The impact on switching off machines and supporting utilities has a major impact on the response time to starting full production as well as confidence in the quality that can be achieved. The situation is further compounded by the fact that most production systems are configured with technology that means running at less than full production rate has a serious impact on energy efficiency; there are rarely alternative energy efficient operating speeds.