Reference Case: Energy Management for a Foundry - Germany

As an internationally competitive company whose energy costs account for about 7% of total costs, the Schött-Druckguss GmbH in Menden has already had to deal with the issue of energy costs in the past. Founded in 1963 the company is a privately owned medium-sized company with currently around 230 employees. In addition to the energy-intensive foundry with smelting operations and several die casting cells, it also has the classic post-processing (deburring, plasters, steel, etc.) of cast parts as well as a well-equipped CNC processing. The main customers of the company are the automotive and electrical industries, heating industry and machinery, plant and equipment engineering industries.

Since 1998, the company maintains a certified quality management system according to ISO 9001. The system was extended in 2002 with the certification for automotive standard ISO / TS 16949 and in 2004 with the certification for environmental management according to ISO 14001. Schött-Druckguss could revert to many years of experience in dealing with management systems which positively influenced the set-up of the energy management system (EnMS).

The actual trigger for the decision by management for the introduction of an energy management system was certainly the change to the electricity and the energy tax laws in 2013. Starting in 2015, a certified energy management system will be required of companies in the future for the reimbursement of taxes as well as the possibility to benefit from the specific provisions of the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG). The latter requires, on the one hand, a certificate according to ISO 50001, and on the other hand, that existing potential for efficiency should be disclosed.

One of the prerequisites of the project was to include the energy management system in the existing integrated management system for quality assurance and environmental management as well as to achieve a certification together with the environmental management system in April 2013.

The implementation of the energy management system in Schött-Druckguss was performed in several steps. Initially the objectives of the EnMS were defined based on energy policies and evaluation as well as the experience of the project team. In addition to the strategic objective of a measurable increase in energy efficiency of the company as part of a three-year plan, there were the following key objectives:

• Acquiring of energy-efficient motors, pumps and drives through new acquisitions and replacement.
• Enhance the transparency of energy consumption with the installation of additional measuring points.
• Convert selected measuring points to an online-registration.
• Increasing the utilization of waste heat in the smelting operation.

The company managers were then informed of the new energy management system through several introductory workshops. To support the energy management officer, management appointed an energy team whose duties are essentially the contribution in energy controlling, the implementation monitoring of measures and targets as well as the identification of further potentials to increase energy efficiency. In early March 2013, management put the EnMS in effect in an enhanced management manual, therefore making it binding for all employees of Schött-Druckguss. After the final audit, Schött-Druckguss GmbH received the seal of approval for a certified energy management system according to DIN EN ISO 50001:2011.

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The certificate itself and the associated opportunities, such as obtaining future tax or pay-related benefits, were not the only advantages that the company acquired from the introduction of the EnMS at the end of the project. The increased transparency of the energy use in the company through the new energy controlling quickly convinced the management that there is still significant potential to increase the profitability of the company. Energy and cost efficiency are two sides of the same coin - and a functioning energy management system is an active cost reduction program with a future.