A Report on Low Impact Manufacturing and Energy Efficiency at Unilever

This report analyzes low impact manufacturing and energy efficiency within Unilever, focusing on cheese production. It identifies five key energy-intensive procedures, including milk production, standardization, heating and mixing, freezing, conversion, and processing. The report illustrates energy fl...Read More

Low Impact Manufacturing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Overview.....................................................................................................................................3
1. Identifying the five most important energy utilizing procedure involved in manufacturing of
ready meals..................................................................................................................................3
2. Illustrating the main flows of energy into, within and out of the facility ..............................5
3. Commenting on the suitability of renewable energy technology ...........................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Energy system is designed by companies especially for saving costs. This system also
assist an enterprise in improving the energy performance of their factory. In present digital
world, increase in number of digitalis-ed solution has made easier for firms to manage the
transition to highly complex, distributed power generation practices through the increasing use of
renewable sources. Energy system has assisted many manufacturing companies in gaining
competitive advantage. In addition to this, energy system assist companies in maintaining
continuous reliable sup[ply of quality power at minimum costs. In context of food manufacturing
industry, energy system can aid business entities in reducing the production losses.
The report have focus on identifying the five crucial procedures involved in
manufacturing of ready made food meals min context of Unilever. It is basically a British-Dutch
transnational consumer goods company. The products as well as services offered by company are
Beverages, cleansing agent, food etc. Study will highlight the e main flows of energy into, within
and out of
the facility, showing the main energy conversions that take place with typical
efficiencies.
MAIN BODY
Overview
Energy efficiency can be referred to as consumption of minimum amount of energy for
producing as well as manufacturing specific product. An energy system is considered to be
beneficial in terms of decreasing the demand for energy. This system is useful in terms of
minimizing the costs of manufacturing. Manufacturing of all types of products requires some
kind of energy. Energy system can be utilized for baking, cooking, heating, cooling etc. When
the energy system is utilized properly can help in minimizing the consumption of energy. The
product chosen for present study is Cheese (Davis, Shaner and Clack,2018.).
1. Identifying the five most important energy utilizing procedure involved in manufacturing of
ready meals.
The different types of energy using process involved in processing of Cheese are :

Production : Mechanical energy is utilised for production of milk which is the first process in
context of manufacturing of cheese. Production of the milk is the activity which is performed by
Human. Mechanical energy is the aggregation of both kinetic and potential energy.
Standardization : At this phase, milk standardised using the energy. This is a stage where the
milk is transformed into other state.
Heating and Mixing: This is the procedure where both natural and powered milk is being mixed.
It is the procedure in which thermal energy is used for heating the milk. In addition to this,
natural gas is also required for which includes chemical potential energy that is utilised for
heating the milk.
Freezing : After heating of the milk, the next step in manufacturing of cheese is refrigerating the
milk in order to make it cool. At this phase of cheese manufacturing process electric energy is
required.
Conversion : This is phase in cheese manufacturing procedure where milk is converted in curd.
This procedure involves use of chemical energy.
Processing : It is the last stage of cheese manufacturing procedure where processing of the curd
is done in order to transform it into cheese. Again at this phase electrical energy is used for
processing the curd and transforming it into cheese.
The different types of energy utilized at the different phases during in the production of
cheese are :
 At the initial stage of cheese manufacturing process, percentage of both potential and
kinetic energy can be utilized for measuring the total amount of mechanical energy used
in the procedure. Utilization of energies during the procedures of manufacturing is
completely based on the quantity of product to be produced.
 The second phase of cheese production required the potential energy that is completely
based on quantity of milk as well as acceleration speed (Rowe, 2018). The percentage as
well as amount of potential energy being used in the cheese making procedure can be
measured on the basis of analyzing the quantity of standardized milk.
 Heating procedure in cheese manufacturing process involves use of thermal energy. It is
the energy which is generally utilized controlling the heating temperature.

 The next step involved in production of cheese is freezing where the electrical energy is
utilized. Amount of the electrical energy utilized during the cheese making process can
be measured power and voltage. Approximately, 100 Mj of electric energy is required for
freezing of estimated one tonne milk.
 During the transformation of milk into curd chemical energy is utilized. Calories can be
counted in order to measure the amount of chemical energy used in the process.
The different types of energies utilized at different stages of the cheese making process can be
easily calculated by analysing the quantity of milk utilized for preparing the cheese. Voltage as
well as power is the measure which can be used for measuring the amount of electric energy
used in manufacturing process (Barbera and Gurnari, 2018). Among the different procedures,
heating as well as freezing is the process which consumes high amount of energy in context of
cheese making process. As per the investigation , approximately forty percentage of energy is
consumed in heating and freezing in context of cheese manufacturing process.
2. Illustrating the main flows of energy into, within and out of the facility
Snake y diagram is generally utilized for specifying the flow of diagram in which the
arrows represents the flow of quantity. It is the diagram which demonstrate the flow of energy,
water, materials etc. Snaky diagram also represents the distribution of system. It is basically an
alternate to other diagrams as well as flow charts. Snaky diagram is considered to be as most
appropriate for analyzing the balance between different energies used in the manufacturing of
specific products. It is the diagram which is very much beneficial in identifying the
inconsistency. Energy flow diagram in form of Snake y diagram is considered to be as one of
the most beneficial as well as useful tool in context of energy management. It is also one of the
most effective tool which can be utilized by Unilever organization for improving its performance
(Khorasani, Danaei and Mozafari, 2018). In addition to this, Snake y diagram can be used as
tool by manager in Unilever for concentrating on flow of energy as well as distribution of
material, costs etc. across different energy system.
Level of granularity in Snake y diagram indicates extend up to which the energy system
is refined. Energy stages in Snake y diagram shows the different energy resources which has
entered into the boundaries of energy system. There are mainly three stages involved in snakey
diagram these are primary energy supply, energy transformation and energy consumption. The
primary energy supply is further categorized into different forms of fossil fuels such coal as well

as renewable. There are few situations in which supply stage is further classified into different
phases which consists of raw material, resource extraction and then last stage is resource
transportation. In context of cheese making process gas is used for heating the milk.
In context of cheese making procedure by Unilever, the milk is the raw material which
first enter into the energy system. It is the milk through which cheese is made. It is the
mechanical energy using which the powdered and liquid milk is mixed with each other. The
cheese making procedure of Unilever, the energy supply phase is categorized into different sub
phases which comprise raw resources such as milk. Resource extraction includes extracting of fat
from the milk. The last phase is resource transportation where milk is transported through
pipeline for getting refrigerated in the refrigerator. Energy transformation procedure in the
Snake y diagram can be defined as the energy resources being transformed into energy and
second type of energy supply includes electricity, different form of fuels and different forms of
thermal energy carries such as chilled milk (Hegde, Lodge and Trabold, 2018). In context of
cheese making procedure, in heating process chemical as well as potential energy is being
transformed into thermal energy. During the time of freezing of cheese, thermal energy is
converted into electrical energy. In context of cheese manufacturing procedure, when the milk is
converted into curd, then chemical energy is transformed into electrical energy in context of
procedure of milk processing.
For Instance, the Snake y diagram which indicates the potential loses which an organization have
to bear along a procedure chain for food that is meat.
From The above diagram, potential loses which Unilever organization have to bear along
a procedure chain for food can easily be analyzed. At every phase, arrows indicating the
percentage of losses suffered by an organization during the procedure of manufacturing ready

made meals. This diagram has illustrated the flow as well as conversion of energy and wastage
of energy during the manufacturing procedure. Snake y diagram assist in identifying the losses
which has taken place in the production procedure.
3. Commenting on the suitability of renewable energy technology
The renewable energy technology can be utilized by Unilever as it helps in developing
electricity, heat as well as fuel from renewable sources which can be used by an organization for
manufacturing products. Few renewable energy technologies are heat -exchange, solar, bio-
energy, hydro, wave, tidal ind etc. Renewable technology can be referred to as a type of energy
which is gathered from different renewable resources or they are gained from natural resources
such as moon, sun, wind etc. Such type of technology is mainly used for transforming renewable
resources into energy (Govindan, 2018). Modern renewable energy technology can capture a lot
more of this naturally occurring energy and convert it into electricity or useful heat. Wind energy
is utilized with a generator for producing the electricity (Qin, 2018). This technology can be
utilized by Unilever for driving the different equipment or machines such as water pumps,
grinding machine etc. In addition to this other most useful as well as beneficial renewable energy
technologies is solar electricity photo voltaic which converts the solar radiation into electricity.
Unilever can utilize solar electricity photo voltaic renewable technology to convert the low
voltage direct electric current. The other most effective renewable energy technology. Biomass is
basically a solid fuel which is obtained from the natural resources such as plants. It can be
utilized by Unilever wood pellets that can be used for purpose of heating. In addition to this,
wind turbines can be used by Unilever for generating mechanical power that can be further used
by firm for the purpose of pumping water as well as milling grains (Davidson, 2018. ). Wind
turbines is considered to be as one of the safest as well as cleanest commercial technique of
producing electricity.
All these renewable technologies are considered to be as suitable as it assists an
organization in minimizing the consumption of electricity as well as energy.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above report it has been analyses from the research that energy is the
most essential tool that helps company in saving costs. Study focused or discussed about the five

crucial procedures involved in manufacturing for ready made food meals min context of
Unilever. Further, it described the main flows of energy in the study to described the importance
of renewable energy technology. Overall research has been concluded and based on food
manufacturing sector. However, it has been concluded that renewable energy technology is very
essential and required to meet out the industry needs and wants. The other fact which has been
found renewable energy system assist organization in reducing the costs as well as consumption
of resources. It has been concluded from the report that Snakey diagram is very much useful in
context of addressing the inconsistencies in the manufacturing procedure. The other thing which
has been concluded from assignment that the three basic type of energy which are required in
manufacturing of most of the products are mechanical, electrical and potential energy.
Firm has been recommendation to use renewable technology for manufacturing products
or services.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Govindan, K., 2018. Sustainable consumption and production in the food supply chain: A
conceptual framework. International Journal of Production Economics, 195, pp.419-431.
Rowe, R., 2018. Radiofrequency heating.
Davis, S.J., Lewis, N.S., Shaner, M., and Clack, C.T., 2018. Net-zero emissions energy
systems. Science, 360(6396), p.eaas9793.
Barbera, M. and Gurnari, G., 2018. Wastewater treatment and reuse in the food industry.
Springer.
Khorasani, S., Danaei, M. and Mozafari, M.R., 2018. Nanoliposome technology for the food and
nutraceutical industries. Trends in Food Science & Technology.
Hegde, S., Lodge, J.S. and Trabold, T.A., 2018. Characteristics of food processing wastes and
their use in sustainable alcohol production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 81, pp.510-523.
Qin, Y., 2018. Seaweed hydrocolloids as thickening, gelling, and emulsifying agents in
functional food products. In Bioactive Seaweeds for Food Applications (pp. 135-152).
Academic Press.
Davidson, V.J., 2018. Fuzzy control for food processes. In Computerized control systems in the food
industry (pp. 179-205). Routledge.