Abstract
The refrigeration industry makes up 17% of the overall electricity usage globally; this
statistic is set to increase within the next few years. It has led stakeholders to agree to
reduce electricity consumption and ensure sustainability measures, which drive
efficient operation. When machines and systems operate within their designed
parameters, they are reliable. Reliability engineering plays the role of ensuring an
effective operation of any system to a set standard. Findings show that To ensure
sustainability in refrigeration plants, a benchmarking methodology approach will
achieve reliability and efficiency by implementing best practices. The study focuses on
investigating Company X’s refrigeration plants, which have optimum reliability
performances and the creation of a framework for best practices implementations. A
quantitative approach with internal benchmarking methodology is used; this leads to
identifying the three top-performing plants within Company X. The researcher
interviews the refrigeration lead for each performing plant and develops a criticality
matrix based on the answers and the identification of which practices should fall part
of the framework. The method paves the way forward for developing a framework and
implementation methods for other plants.