Why Sustainability Managers Can Do More Than They Realise

When it comes to sustainable production, there are many different levers a company can use, some more effective than others, some more obvious than others. Here, Sean Robinson, Head of Software and Services at digital solutions provider Novotech, highlights the less obvious but still effective levers manufacturers can use to streamline their manufacturing processes and reduce their carbon footprint.

When it comes to reducing the environmental impact of production, there's more reason to be optimistic than you might think. An expert might assume that manufacturers are not caring enough about reducing their carbon footprint, but carbon is often a proxy indicator of various costs. Manufacturers want to optimize their processes and not waste energy, raw materials or products.

The problem is that they don't fully understand the levers they can pull, in some cases they already have them but don't know they can pull them. Thoughtful captains of industry care about reducing their environmental impact, but when working at the macro level, they sometimes don't understand their operations in minute detail.

There are many clear and simple steps that can be taken. Replace the lighting in your installation with LED lighting; provide low toilets; Install double glazing in the main office. All of these options are obvious, can be profitable in the short to medium term, and are worth pursuing individually, but overall they're not particularly effective.

But what about open systems with structural implications? In this category we can include things like using wind turbines or solar panels to take some of the work out of grid installation. These levers are more structural, but even when the actions pay off in the long run, the CFO can sometimes find it difficult to justify the investments.

In addition to the CFO's competitive requirements, this approach has several important limitations. In some cases, capital investments in so-called green solutions can disrupt processes that produce products relatively efficiently. Even when it's not, and investing in new equipment is beneficial, manufacturers can quickly get bogged down investing in more visible systems. What else can you do?

Basic interaction of everything (in production)

One of my favorite characters is Dark Gently, the character of the same name from Douglas Adams Holistic Detective Agency Dark Gently. According to Bhadrata, "The word 'everything' refers to my belief that what interests me here is the fundamental interdependence of everything." want to overcome the pitfalls of isolated decision-making.

A great example of how to think and act holistically comes from my own country, Canada. We Canadians are used to what I would call light liquid yogurt, but it wasn't always like this. We love yoghurts that taste a little bit better than they used to because a very smart product manager at a dairy takes a holistic approach to his operation.

Viscous curds require more force to move through the pumping network. More chemicals and water were needed to clean it from the processing and bottling plant. By changing the composition of the product and reducing its viscosity, the manufacturer gets a cheaper and less energy-consuming product. The change in product design was introduced gradually and was clearly linked to the development of more environmentally friendly products.

Consumers can be moody, but manufacturers have been good at communicating and sharing stories about the environmental benefits of the change. Over time, Canadians have become accustomed to small yogurts made with less energy and fewer chemicals.

In the example here, the arm is the measure. They knew how much energy it took to move the curd through the system, how much water it took to clean it, and how much energy it took to heat the water to create steam. They were simple questions, but with a degree of automation, they could collect all the data from water meters, chemical dosimeters, and energy meters, measure it, and relay it to different types of products. The relationship shown by this correlation was not linear. As you increase the viscosity of the curd, you create an exponential increase in the energy required.

Swiss Army Knives

We can imagine similar examples across many industries, but it's equally important to understand that the benefits of this data collection practice don't stop there. A different approach from a different angle can modify the same data acquisition architecture and reveal additional areas where operations can be optimized.

For this it is essential to have data on the health of your assets. It is common in the process industry to take data from boiler systems and various filters and valves and find out how robust your boiler control algorithms can be. Boiler data can be used to analyze the amount of heat you need for different products so you only use the heat you need.

There are many reasons people don't do these steps as often as they should. A stable product line makes things easier and allows you to quickly find the optimal amount of power you need. It's even more difficult with consumer products, where innovation is key and the ingredients that go into the product and packaging options are constantly changing. If you don't have the right data collection infrastructure in place to collect data and redefine that infrastructure in ways you hadn't thought of before, you may feel that each project requires its own new and unique investment.

Industrial producers and consumers often begin by thinking about the big and the tangible. They're eager to buy devices that are inherently more efficient, especially when they're clearly non-disruptive and inexpensive. However, when this is their only stopover, they quickly run out of breath and wonder what else they can do.

Novotek's experience has shown us that when your operations begin to see fundamental interactions, the machines you already own often contain a wealth of useful information that can serve as the basis for other big, impactful changes. The point you're missing is the measurement. Measure first and then let the results guide future research in more advanced areas. You already have all the tools and technology you need to respond to what the gauge is telling you.