Method for an energy-oriented production control

Increasing energy costs as well as a growing awareness for sustainability are challenging companies to use energy more efficiently. Therefore, a company's production planning and control strategies have to be adapted. This paper presents a method for a short-term production control which aims to synchronize the energy demand in manufacturing with a limited energy supply. The method treats electric energy as a limited production capacity where load profiles for manufacturing are predetermined and integrates load management into the production control in order to minimize energy costs.