Generic energy-enhancement module for consumption analysis of manufacturing processes in discrete event simulation

Abstract

Customer demands for eco-friendly goods, energy supply bottlenecks or consumption/emission restrictions in many countries, as well as the current economic situation demand a conscious use of energy in industry. Manufacturers and suppliers need to increase efficiency of their products, processes and resources dramatically in order to reach agreed energy targets. To achieve substantial reductions it becomes necessary to establish predictive assessments of the energy demand for new production systems and whole manufacturing sites as standard operating procedures in systems engineering. This paper discusses a newly developed, generic energy-enhancement module, which renders resource consumption analyses within material flow simulation software possible.