Optimisation with a vision

Pop quiz: What are the essential factors in making sure production never stops? State-of-the-art technology? Manpower? No, the correct answer is: Heat and power. Nothing works without power, literally. Yet, energy is expensive and bad for the environment. This is why Bastian Schrems loves to talk about optimisation potential. At Pfeifer, he is responsible for energy management and the environment, making decisions aimed at minimising production’s impact on the environment and maximising value creation per energy unit used. Which is an important task as areas such as energy efficiency, sustainability and data-based optimisation are rapidly gaining importance in times of climate change, international competition and advancing digitisation. With its Green Deal, the EU has already set the course for sustainability, making companies face many challenges – but even more opportunities – in the years to come. And to come out on top, Pfeifer is already active in energy efficiency networks and associations. The Unterbernbach site has been taking part in the EnBW Energieeffizienz Bayern 4.0 network since 2020, contributing to achieving German’s / Europe’s climate and energy policy goals.

A methodical approach wins the day

One of Bastian Schrems’ recipes for success is the intelligent use of synergies and to transfer lessons learned from one site to another. All German Pfeifer sites are ISO 50001 certified (a globally valid standard by the International Organization for Standardization, which is intended to support organisations and companies in establishing systematic energy management). Knowledge and experience from this process also benefit the Austrian and Czech sites. According to Schrems, the benefits are transferred during targeted energy audits: “A systematic approach that is applied uniformly to all sites provides a high level of transparency and supports the sites on their way towards using energy more efficiently and environmentally friendly.”