Energy management and manufacturing strategies: the case of Iranian oil industry

Abstract

Purpose Iran is currently among the countries with high energy consumption levels. Based on the statistics published on the country's hydrocarbon balance sheet, the industrial sector was the largest energy user of all the sectors, followed by the household and transportation sectors. Besides, production lines account for the highest percentage of the industrial sector energy consumption. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the effects of coordinated energy management and manufacturing strategies to increase energy management performance. Design/methodology/approach This paper collected the required information on energy management and manufacturing from the experts of petrochemical companies; and oil and gas refineries and then examined their relationship. Moreover, the questionnaire tool was used to measure the independent variable. Findings The evaluations showed that organizations with coordinated and uncoordinated strategies do not exhibit equal energy management performance. Organizations with a coordinated combination of strategies have higher energy management performance than those with an uncoordinated combination of strategies. Combinations such as 11, 22, 33 and 44 are among the more coordinated combinations, which lead to higher performance. Originality/value Reviewing the studies in this regard revealed that limited and a handful of research papers were carried out on organizations' energy management strategies. None of the existing research has considered energy management strategies as a subsystem of an organization or specified its coordination with manufacturing strategies. However, this research has delved into this issue and our findings confirm certain assumptions of past studies and contribute to evaluating its effects on energy management performance.