Low Impact Manufacturing

Running head: LOW IMPACT MANUFACTURING
Low Impact Manufacturing
Name
Institution

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LOW IMPACT MANUFACTURING
Executive Summary
As the global concerns for the amount and type of energy being consumed continue to
increase, the biscuit and cookies industry is widely affected because of its high reliance on
energy in the mixing, baking, creaming and packaging processes (Yassin & Arslandere, 2011).
In this study, an analysis is conducted on the energy requirements of an Oreo factory with a
production capacity of 3000 cookies per minute. A test was also conducted to explore the major
energy consuming factors through a Sankay diagrams for the factory. A renewable energy tests
suitability test was also conducted to assess the viability of incorporating renewable energy
technologies into the major activities of the factory and thus reduce its energy consumption and
improve its efficiency. The report was also concluded by offering certain alternatives the
company can consider to reduce its energy consumption for now. In so doing, the report has been
able to show the importance of considering the energy efficiency concerns in order to keep the
profit margins of the industry up in the face of mitigation policies to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions that cause global negative climate change impacts.

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LOW IMPACT MANUFACTURING
Energy Assessment in the Oreo Biscuit Manufacturing Factory
Introduction
In the modern day where there are global environmental concerns due to the high
consumption of fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gases, the energy consumption aspects of
manufacturing have become an increasingly important decision making factor to consider. This
has caused many countries across the globe to implement policies aimed at ensuring that the
mass of greenhouse gas emissions disposed to the environment while burning fossil fuels is kept
at a very minimum. The policies are also aimed to ensure that the highest producers of these
emissions compensate the smallest polluters for the adverse climate change effects that continue
to impact the world (Yassin & Arslandere, 2011). The regulations which have been implemented
in different parts of the world have made energy needs for manufacturing companies to cost
exorbitant prices that affect their profit margins, causing these manufacturers to consider
alternate sources of energy like renewable energy Since the projected population increase
indicates that the food industry will continue to remain lucrative for the next decade, energy
needs of the UK food industry are projected to become higher (Langley, 2017). The biscuit
industry specifically is hardly impacted by the strict mitigation policies due to its high energy
requirements in the different stages of manufacturing involved. This study looks into the Oreo
Biscuit Manufacturing industry and its energy needs, in order to assess the feasibility of reducing
the energy needs of the industry and that of the industry switching to a sustainable dependence
on renewable energy.
Energy Needs of the Oreo Biscuit Industry
There is a great need to reduce the energy consumption of the Oreo Biscuit Industry as
the industry uses a lot of energy in its mixing, baking, monitoring, and packaging of the biscuits.
The most energy intensive stages of manufacturing include the mixing the flour, sugar, water,
cocoa, and all the other ingredients that go into the baking of this product. The mixer used
energy to measure the ingredients and to mix them up into a dough (Siddiqui, 2009). The dough
is then molded into the desired biscuit shapes before as well as in pressing the iconic branding
and marks of the biscuit on to the cookie dough. The cookies are then baked in an industrial oven
then cooled before the premixed crème filling is used to make the signature filling on the plain
side of the baked cookie. The crème is also mixed in its own mixer then conveyed to a special
machine that is involved in the filling process. In an industry situation, about 3000 cookies every
minute and the total time used up is about 90 minutes from the start to the finish if the process.
Most Energy Intensive Manufacturing Processes in the Oreo Industry
1. Mixing stage
During the process of mixing ingredients, the ingredients have to be precisely measured and the
energy requirements of this process depend on both the load conditions of the mixer and its type.

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Since mixing seeks to dissolve some of the ingredients making the dough and hydrating the rest
to form gluten during the compression and shear action of the mixer the machine will consume a
lot of power in an effort to achieve the best consistency of the dough (Brightwell, 2011). A
measuring device is also attached to the mixer to ensure that the quality of dough produced is
consistent
2. Molders
The molders are used to ensure that the shape and design of the end product is always constant in
terms of the size, thickness, and the branding details of the product. Molders are primarily
forming machines that ensure that the shape, size, and weight of the end product is consistent.
The machine uses a sheeter that presses the dough to roll it out to desired thickness and then cut
the cookie dough to the required design and shape and thickness while the rest of the dough
batch is reused till the maximum number of cookies is made from the batch. The federate of the
machine is set as this is production on a factory level depending in the movement speed of the
conveyor bringing the cookie dough to the sheeting machine (Paton, et al., 2013). A laser
measurement machine is used to ensure that all the parameters of shape and size are kept
constant in the forming machine. Metal detectors in the Oreo Biscuit Industry are also attached
to this stage for the purpose of quality control using optical detectors or normal cameras that
have a good contribution to the energy requirements of this stage.
3. Baking
Many technologies have evolved to improve the thermal efficiencies of industrial ovens s this
stage is the highest energy consumer in the field of biscuit and cookie making. During the baking
stage, the water added to the dough is dehydrated in an oven after the structure and taste qualities
of the dough have been established in the mixing, kneading, and cookie cutting processes. The
baking process also allows the cookies to develop a desirable color to make it more flavorful and
appealing to the eyes of those who will consume the product (Aranda-Uson, et al., 2012). This
explains the need for industrial bakeries to have long industrial ovens that allow the oven
environment to be zoned in order to optimize these two main functions of baking. To further
enhance efficiency in manufacturing the speed of the processes is brought down to the shortest
amount possible through the use of conveyor belts that carried the cut uncooked cookies into the
oven to a waiting set of fans that cools the cookies strait from the oven in readiness for the cream
filling. In this industry, an indirect fired based oven is use where the cookies are baked using hot
air that is preheated before going into the oven to bake the Oreo cookies. To control the
temperatures in the oven dampers have been installed towards the exhaust end of the oven to
ensure that the moisture removed from the cookies is used to either cool or heat the air along the
length of the oven in a bid to control the temperatures in the oven. The energy efficiency of the
ovens is determined by the two factors namely: