The Lean and Energy Toolkit

Executive Summary

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed this Lean and Energy Toolkit to assist organizations in reducing energy use and improving performance through Lean manufacturing—the production system developed by Toyota. Drawing from the experiences and best practices of multiple industry and government partners, this toolkit describes practical strategies and techniques to improve energy and environmental performance while achieving Lean goals such as improved quality, reduced waste, and increased customer responsiveness.

There are at least three reasons for integrating Lean and energy efficiency efforts:

Cost Savings: Reducing energy costs has a significant impact on business performance, though costs may be hidden in overhead or facility accounts.
Climate Change and Environmental Risk: Proactively addressing the environmental and climate impacts of energy use is increasingly important to industry and society. Failure to do so is a potential business risk.
Competitive Advantage: Lowering recurring operating costs, improving staff morale, and responding to customer expectations for environmental performance and energy efficiency increases your competitive advantage.

Linking Lean and Energy Use

Considerable energy savings typically ride the coattails of Lean activities because of Lean’s focus on eliminating non-value added activities (waste). Without explicit consideration of energy wastes, however, Lean may overlook significant opportunities to improve performance and reduce costs. Companies such as Baxter International, Eastman Kodak, General Electric, Toyota, and 3M, as well as many smaller manufacturers, have successfully used Lean methods to reduce energy use, risks, and costs (see textbox).

Example Results from Lean and Energy Improvement Efforts

A Baxter International facility saved $300,000 in energy costs in one year.
General Electric has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 250,000 metric tons and saved $70 million in energy costs since 2005 at facilities worldwide.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America reduced facility energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent per vehicle since 2000.

This toolkit describes a range of strategies for identifying Lean and energy improvement opportunities and reducing energy use with Lean methods. It is not necessary to implement all the techniques in the toolkit to succeed; instead, select and adapt the approaches that make the most sense for your organization.

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Lean and Energy Assessment Strategies

Lean and energy assessment strategies involve observing shopfloor activities to identify signs of energy waste, measuring actual energy use and costs over time, and implementing energy savings opportunities through short, focused events. Strategies described in this toolkit include:

Energy Treasure Hunts: Conduct a three-day plant-wide assessment of energy savings opportunities using a cross-functional team of employees.
Value and Energy Stream Mapping: Integrate energy-use analysis into the Lean value stream mapping process to identify improvement opportunities within the context of the entire “value stream” of a product or service.
Six Sigma: Use statistical process analysis and control tools to find and address root causes of energy wastes and variation.
Energy Kaizen Events: Identify and implement employee ideas for saving energy and reducing wastes through rapid process improvement events.

Lean and Energy Reduction Strategies

Many energy efficiency best practices can be implemented without extensive analysis or planning. The Lean and energy reduction strategies in this toolkit describe ways to reduce energy use through Lean activities such as the following:

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): Incorporate energy reduction best practices into day-to-day autonomous maintenance activities to ensure that equipment and processes run smoothly and efficiently.
Right-Sized Equipment: Replace oversized and inefficient equipment with smaller equipment tailored to the specific needs of manufacturing cells.
Plant Layout and Flow: Design or rearrange plant layout to improve product flow while also reducing energy use and associated impacts.
Standard Work, Visual Controls, and Mistake-Proofing: Sustain and support additional Lean and energy performance gains through standardized work procedures and visual signals that encourage energy conservation, and by making it easy or “mistake-proof” to be energy efficient.

Maximizing Lean and Energy Improvement Opportunities

In addition to explicitly using Lean methods to target energy wastes, facilities can take advantage of other windows of opportunity for energy savings that arise during Lean, including opportunities to install energy-efficient equipment, switch to less polluting fuel sources, and design products to use less energy. To be most effective, Lean and energy efforts should be proactive, strategic, and systematic. Adopting an energy management system that aligns with and supports your organization’s Lean initiatives will enable your organization to achieve the greatest improvements in operational, energy, and environmental performance.

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