ETISE Survey Summary

This report summarizes the survey conducted by East Tennessee Initiative for Smart Energy Management (ETISE) among local manufacturers and the technical assistance conducted by the ETISE Team and students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. From 09/18/22 to 11/06/2023, we received 16 responses, two of which were from the same company. We plan to renew our efforts to solicit more responses starting in August 2024. The survey can be found at East Tennessee Initiative for Smart Energy Management (ETISE) Survey (google.com). The survey covers general information, responses regarding energy management, decarbonization, smart manufacturing, and an analysis. 

These are the 16 companies that completed the survey. Please note that two responses are from the same company, Camel Manufacturing.

These are the main findings:

• One-third of local small- and medium-sized manufacturers have not established any energy management system. The others have some initial management systems but only use the system to partially manage their energy use. 
• Most companies do not use any smart manufacturing technologies for their energy management. A few of them automatically collect some data, install sub-meters, have real-time data, or conduct maintenance based on energy management. 
• Most companies stated that the lack of expertise and the concern about the high investment cost are the top challenges for them to implement “smart energy management”. 
• Most companies do not have senior management or dedicated energy management teams. 
• Most companies do not have any energy policy or collect any energy data beyond utility bills. 
• Most companies have no process for identifying energy efficiency opportunities.  
• Most companies have either no or irregular energy review process.
• Most companies have little or no consideration of energy or emissions while developing standard operating procedures.
• Most companies do not have a stated net-zero emissions goal. Three companies stated they had estimated scope 1 and 2 emissions and pilot projects underway. Only one company stated they have comprehensively assessed scope 1 and 2 emissions. 
• Only one company stated that they had implemented one strategy (Energy efficiency). There are several pilot programs for energy efficiency, power purchase agreements, combined heat and power, carbon accounting, purchase of carbon offset credits, and carbon capture. In our assessments, we did not see any decarbonization strategy in the pilot or implementation phase.
• Only two companies implemented on-site alternative energy sources. We did assessments at both companies, and they both implemented geothermal for space heating.
• Most companies did not have a smart manufacturing strategy.
• Most companies have a central IT department. Some use a service provider.
• No companies had complete functionality in their equipment infrastructure. Most companies did not have machine-to-machine communication or interoperability.
• Companies are collecting data during production. Only one company stated they do not collect machine or process data. Throughput times were the most popular category. This is an area companies can improve on their initial success to drive value.
• Most companies use data in quality management. Some use data to optimize logistics and supply chain, predictive maintenance or the transparency across production processes. 
• Companies indicated that they are well along with their IT security solutions. 
• Most companies are at least investigating SM benefits, but no company indicated that they have a basic investment plan.
• Only one company stated they are not using real-time data for management decisions. The most popular category was production data.Based on an ANOVA analysis, it is observed that there is no effect of “company size” on “energy management system implementation”. There is a possible but weak impact of “company size” on “net-zero” emissions level and on “smart manufacturing implementation” with a P-value around 0.2.