At Amcor PET Packaging, the multinational manufacturer of drink containers, concerns over bottlenecks in bottle making rose from engineering to the executive office after line inefficiencies turned costly.
A few years ago, the maker of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for the food and beverage industry faced escalating electric bills, a direct result of wasteful workflows that soaked up excessive energy during production. Suddenly, power conservation became a boardroom conversation.
Saving energy in the factory, however, is not as simple as flicking off a light switch. It requires a multipronged approach that begins with finding the energy-eating source — which very often is an ineffective automation process — and ends with an equipment upgrade of some sort.
Investing in new assets, however, requires lots of cash, which, in this budget-crunching economy, is a four-letter word. IT and plant managers alike know better than to ask for it.