Today’s guest post is from Robert A. Rudzki, President of Greybeard Advisors LLC, who has (co-) authored a number of acclaimed business books, including Beat the Odds: Avoid Corporate Death and Build a Resilient Enterprise, On-Demand Supply Management, and the just published text on Next Level Supply Management Excellence that is a follow up to the now-classic Straight to the Bottom Line.

Even the largest and most sophisticated companies tend to look at energy costs in a piecemeal way — plant by plant, facility by facility. One reason for this is the inherent complexity of the energy marketplace. Another is the need for local facilities to ensure adequate supplies.

Yet, by adopting a comprehensive approach to energy management, many companies discover significant opportunities to add value and reduce risk.

As the chart below illustrates, energy management embraces a variety of activities that are cost focused, such as establishing commodity prices, mission critical such as ensuring adequate supplies, and even policy- or community-focused such as green initiatives.

Comprehensive energy management is the process of systematically analyzing all the aspects that influenced total energy cost, with the goal of arriving at an optimal energy cost.

Chapter 10 of the just-released book Next Level Supply Management Excellence (Rudzki, Trent), is devoted entirely to the subject of comprehensive energy management. You can also obtain additional information by downloading the linked two-page PDF.

Thanks, Bob.