ArcelorMittal Dofasco is the first integrated steel mill in North America to earn ISO 50001 energy management certification

Using energy efficiently helps organizations save money, conserve resources and tackle climate change. ISO 50001 supports organizations in all sectors to use energy more efficiently and specifies requirements for a world-class energy management system.

The ISO 50001 standard gives an organization a systematic approach to continual improvement of energy efficiency, use and consumption. The standard is based on the Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA) continual improvement framework that aligns with ArcelorMIttal Dofasco’s World Class Continuous Improvement (WCCI) process.

“This certification is a recognition of the integrity of our energy management system,” says Ian Shaw (Manager, Energy Department). “We are managing the energy we bring into the system in the most effective way and getting the most value from it. This is another aspect that helps us maintain our competitive position.”

Starting in April 2016, ArcelorMittal Dofasco participated with eight other leading organizations as part of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s North American Energy Management Pilot Program. Federal Energy Ministries of Canada, Mexico and the United States launched the pilot program to promote implementation of the ISO 50001 international energy management system standard. The other participating companies were BMW, Cargill, Cummins, Ingersoll Rand, Intertape Polymer Group, New Gold and Titan America.

As part of the pilot, participating companies received training and technical assistance from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) on their way to certification. Interactive training sessions explored components of the standard and then session learnings were brought back to Dofasco to be incorporated into our site management system. In June 2017, the Georgia Tech consultants visited to assess our readiness for the certification audit and identify gaps that required closing. The final certification audit took place over six full days this September. Dofasco received its certification with no minor or major nonconformances.

“The auditing organization did not identify a nonconformance, and only three opportunities for improvement. Based on previous certification audit experience, that is an extremely impressive result,” said Keith Whitely (Manufacturing Technology). “It is a testament to Dofasco’s people and world-class vision. It made me proud to be part of our organization and have employees from business units, services, staff departments and top management participate and demonstrate their expertise. Everyone came through, supported the Energy Department and did an excellent job.”

Preparing for certification included many facets of the business spanning the whole organization. Steps taken included managing purchased commodities, such as natural gas, electricity, coal, coke and oil. As Keith explains, many organizations working toward ISO 50001 certification focus only on one or two commodities. Dofasco also elected to incorporate the complex process flows of an integrated steel mill, which has byproduct energy streams recycled back into the mill, such as blast furnace gas and coke oven gas. This added another layer of complexity. Dofasco also had to convey its energy management message to about 5,000 people in all roles, from contractor to CEO.

“In the steel industry, there are imperatives we cannot control. We cannot control energy prices or government policies, but getting certification is one thing we could control,” said Keith.

The ISO 50001 certification is the latest initiative related to our Energy Optimization World Class Continuous Improvement Pillar, which provides a system and process to identify and eliminate losses associated with all energy consumption across every aspect of our business.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco is in the midst of a significant business-wide energy reduction portfolio to reduce our energy consumption by 260,000 megawatt hours per year by 2019. That’s equal to the annual consumption of 26,000 homes from Ontario’s power grid, or a town the size of Brantford, Ontario. A significant part of reaching this goal is the $112-million Utilities Boiler and Power Generation project, which will see three boilers replaced with one high pressure boiler and a turbine generator capable of producing 20 megawatts of power on site.

Ian says Dofasco is on track to meet our targets and the Energy Optimization World Class
Continuous Improvement Pillar Team is in discussions regarding the next steps needed on the way to meet our energy management goals.

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