Amid the worst socio-economic and geopolitical crisis of modern history, the glass industry is also faced challenging times. Energy-saving actions in the glass industry are at the core of sustainable manufacturing operations. The different types of glass, and interlayer materials used in the production of safety glass are complex. Their processing, applying varying types of heat treatment-processes, and lamination of glass plys with foreign materials are sensitive processes—many things can go wrong. Still, areas for energy efficiency improvement can be found in daily operations. In this article, I share my thoughts and experiences on what to focus on.
Operations Management and Production Leadership:
- Improve yield, machine utilization, and throughput in production.
- From the perspective of energy-intensive processes like tempering and lamination, production planning plays a crucial role, enabling glass load optimization and ’steady-fast’ throughput.
Tempering:
- Use the furnace at a constant temperature to minimize energy and time spent on heating and cooling.
- Control fragment size to avoid unnecessary energy consumption.
- Loading design & optimization significantly affect energy efficiency in tempering.
- Some tempering furnaces are more energy efficient to simply ”Turn Off” than use existing ”Hot Store Modes”, depends on a model.
Lamination:
- Optimize film and material storage conditions to save energy.
- Test suction bags or rings for leaks before running the process.
Autoclaving:
- Eliminate unnecessary pressure use in the autoclave.
- Maximize autoclave loading capacity.
- Optimize autoclave cycle times, maximum temperature, and cooling cycle.
- For example cycle’s can be made more effective with correct heating and cooling parametering taking advantage of physics.
General Points:
- Stop conveyors and other equipment when production is halted.
- Check and eliminate air leaks in pneumatic lines.
- Optimize water pump motor control and water recycling processes.
- Improve and optimize energy consumption monitoring.
In the current operating environment, regardless of the market or product, the importance of skilled staff, operational efficiency and the ”first-time-right” philosophy is more important than ever. Therefore, expertise in manufacturing processes is key to maintaining and improving competitiveness. Another generational cycle would appear to be taking place, where many long time glass industry professionals are leaving for well deserved retirements. The challege I see again with this generational cycle is the lack onboarding support of new hirees. Fortunately, training and expert help are available Global Glass Specialists!
Thank you for reading,
Mika