EGG
- EGG
- 01.01.2013 - 31.12.2016
- Ministry for Innovation, Science and Research of the State of NRW
- FH structure
- 340,000 euros, of which 30 % own contribution
- Prof. Dr. Christian Ewering
- Annia Mariana Garcia Gonzalez, Ralf Siebert, Raphael Souza, Florian Wortmann, Abdelrahman Youssief
Produce when the current flows
EGG project: Energy-driven business processes
Until now, the availability of electricity was assumed to be a given and constant. A change of perspective was advisable in view of the foreseeable increase in the use of renewable energies. The German government’s decision to cover energy requirements without nuclear energy will lead to an increase in volatile energy sources to over 40 % in 2020. The new electricity mix could then lack well over 30 % of energy on a calm, foggy day.
Does this mean that adjustments need to be made in energy-consuming companies? How can changes be implemented without compromising the quality of the production process? In 2013, the FHDW was awarded the contract for the research project “Energy-controlled business processes” in the FH STRUKTUR program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state funded this project for two years with around €240 thousand. “The project enabled us to develop recommendations for action for companies based on an empirical study on how business processes should be adapted in order to optimize electricity costs,” says Prof. Dr. Christian Ewering. We – in addition to project manager Ewering: Abdelrahman Youssief (Egypt), Annia Mariana Garcia Gonzalez (Mexico), Ralf Siebert, Raphael Souza (Brazil) and Florian Wortmann.
Pilot projects in an industrial environment have shown very positive effects of a changed “electricity policy”. The use of initial prototypes resulted in a reduction in electricity costs that could well be in the double-digit percentage range – without affecting production parameters and service levels. In companies with highly automated processes and low personnel costs, the first positive effects can be realized quickly. In other commercial enterprises, especially those with a lot of human labor in the production processes, a multi-layered approach is required for implementation. This raised the additional problem of working time models, which led to the follow-up project AREXU.
A key aspect of this EGG project was the interdisciplinary cooperation between the Computer Science and Business Administration departments. With this research program, the FHDW started to expand its research focus on supply chain management to include the topic of energy.
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