An e-learning programme to help plastics processors manage and reduce their energy consumption is being explored by iSmithers, the information business within Smithers Rapra, based in Shropshire, UK.

ENERGYWISE Plastics, a two-year project funded by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme, will involve an online platform and training materials. iSmithers will work with seven partners from across Europe, including the British Plastics Federation, the Danish Technological Institute and German organisation Fraunhofer-ICT.

‘The plastics processing industry is a substantial user of electricity but there is a tendency to view energy costs as fixed overheads,’ explains Suzanne Wilkinson, Project Manager of the training scheme. ‘A key aim of ENERGYWISE Plastics is to alter this perception and to demonstrate that energy purchase should be considered as a variable materials cost, with substantial potential for savings.’

The programme uses what the company refers to as ‘blended learning’, offering interactive online modules as well as traditional classroom style learning within iSmithers, or at any of the consortium partners’ facilities. ‘It will be industry specific, covering seven major processes – injection moulding, extrusion, thermoforming, blow moulding, rotational moulding, composites and compression moulding,’ says Wilkinson.

The programme has three entry points. The first targets senior management and financial departments to help them conduct energy audits and start an energy efficiency programme. The second supports those working on the shop floor, training technicians, operators and maintenance engineers to optimise processes/ equipment to reduce energy consumption, while maintaining quality and production levels. Finally, maintenance engineers and facilities managers can receive training in areas such as lighting, compressed air and cooling.

Experience matters

iSmithers is leading the initiative using knowledge generated by a previous EU-funded project. Reduced Energy Consumption in Plastics Engineering (RECIPE), which ended in 2007, surveyed over 3,500 companies in the plastics sector to establish the level of knowledge about energy efficiency. The results helped the ENERGYWISE Plastics consortium focus on which areas are important to industry, and also helped them to identify the need for the three training entry points to deliver help to specific areas of an organisation.

‘The RECIPE project designed [training] materials to provide the plastics processing industry with the information and tools necessary to make energy wise decisions,’ says Wilkinson. For example, the best practice guide shows injection moulders how much energy they could save by switching from hydraulic to all-electric moulding machines, which reduce power consumption by 30-60%. All electric machines also eliminate the need for cooling of hydraulic oils.

Wilkinson says many in industry did not know where to get this sort of information from, which is why the training programme was developed.

Further information: ENERGYWISE Plastics and RECIPE.