Future of sustainable manufacturing is technology driven

A wide range of technologies and applications can act as enablers in improving the overall sustainability of the manufacturing sector. Running more sustainable manufacturing units will impact bottom lines positively. Sustainability will soon not be a matter of choice but a business imperative

Updated: Jan 10, 2023 12:35:42 PM UTC
Future-in-sustainable-manufacturing-is-technology-driven
Technology infusion in multiple aspects of manufacturing will drive improved efficiency in energy usage and help in controlling greenhouse emissions produced by the sector. Image: Shutterstock

In today’s reality, being sustainable is inescapable, especially in a closely scrutinised sector like manufacturing. While the urgency to shift to a smarter and greener production is always touted, the underlying issues are rarely discussed. What are the current realities around energy efficiency? What are the easy wins for companies looking to make the change? And how can they use key technology to change the game?

Understanding the ground realities

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by six percent in 2021 to 36.3 billion tonnes. With 2.46 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted from India, we rank third globally, contributing to 6.8 percent of all emissions worldwide. Of this, 68.7 percent or 1.69 billion metric tonnes accounts for the carbon footprint generated by India’s manufacturing sector. At a global level, manufacturing contributes to 54 percent of all carbon emissions. Considering we are a developing nation with a heavy emphasis on growing our economy, the higher contribution of the Indian manufacturing sector to national CO2 emission levels is to be expected. However, this also puts the industry under a lot of pressure to address this issue at the earliest. With the manufacturing industry on the cusp of a data-driven revolution, sustainability will soon become one of the imperatives of the ongoing digital transformation wave.

Interconnected factories: A sustainable solution

In many ways, interconnected factories, driven by data, could offer a solution. On the face of it, an interconnected factory is where information technology is integrated with the already-existing operational technology in a manufacturing plant. But as we zoom in, this manufacturing system reveals its complexities.

1) Machines are enabled with connected sensors using a variety of wired and low-range wireless technologies.

2) Through this system of sensors, important data like health and utilisation levels of machines are collected and sent.

3) This data is then aggregated and analysed either by AI-based software running on edge computing devices at the factory or similar software running in the cloud.

4) This leads to actionable information helping in predictive maintenance, improved productivity, a better quality of finished products and efficient use of energy.

While efficiency is a main outcome of interconnected factories, curbing greenhouse emissions is another key benefit of this manufacturing system when used correctly. Here are a few examples:

- Data analysis at every stage of production would lead to corrective actions in real time rather than waiting for a sub-optimal product to be completed. This means lower potential material wastage caused by bad quality products, higher energy efficiencies, and lower total greenhouse emissions for the plant.

- Continuous monitoring of sensor data helps identify malfunctions and inefficiencies in machines which could result in timely corrective actions that can help reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency further.

- Data generated by sensors at different points in the production process can help the overall optimisation of the manufacturing system. It increases the overall energy efficiency of the plant and can lead to solutions that produce more with the same energy consumption or lower the energy consumption for the current production volume.

Examining the technology

Manufacturing technology application and advancement can be viewed as the following stack: Field Devices to Edge Compute to Cloud to Applications.

At the field devices level, it is about enabling manufacturing hardware with smart, connected sensors. These sensors can be connected with multiple low-range communication links like LoRA, BLE, WiFi, and so on.

Brownfield manufacturing plants built using older technologies can use Edge computing/applications. This can help them take advantage of new-age digital technologies likes AI/ML to make these factories smarter and more efficient. Edge computing platforms deploy smart, connected, and cost-effective data analysis on premises which can help in aggregating big data and running AI/ML algorithms for faster inferences with low latency. Also, Edge computing would be a gateway for cloud connectivity where data can be fed to more advanced applications, which would help train AI/ML models.

Also Read: 7 approaches for sustainable manufacturing growth

With cloud computing, we open up the possibility of having on-demand computing power and storage for Big Data generated from multiple sensors. Additionally, this level of high-speed computing can be used to train AI/ML models to create actionable information from data.

A wide range of technologies/applications can act as enablers in improving the overall sustainability of the manufacturing sector. Some key technologies specifically focus on accelerating sustainability and improving efficiencies. A combination of different technologies and solutions, deployed at different stages, will achieve the best results. For example, Digital Twin can be used extensively to create virtual products and test the same during the product design phase before you get into production. This would lead to significant material saving and much lower energy wastage. Similarly, production line planning can be done using a plethora of technologies to make sure that the plant/factory is not just highly efficient currently but also at the time of future expansion.

Embracing the future

As emerging technologies mature, we will see rapid adoption of new-age digital technologies in manufacturing. With the rapid adoption of connected sensors, manufacturing plants will start generating huge amounts of data. This data, coupled with pervasive computing and emerging technologies like AI/ML, is going to drive digital transformation for Indian manufacturing. One of the significant outcomes of digital transformation would be increased data visibility and actionable information and this would, in turn, lead to significant efficiency gains.

With changing customer behaviour and demands, coupled with volatile and dynamic geopolitical and economic situations and supply chain scenarios, the manufacturing sector will have to make itself agile to respond to these changing dynamics. To build this agile responsiveness, manufacturing and supply chain will have to connect at a very base level and not function as disconnected islands.

Also Read: How govt can create sustainable manufacturing growth in India

Understanding, collecting, and analysing data will soon need to be done by every organisation. This digital transformation is becoming crucial to deal with the challenges of today, and the demands of tomorrow. That is where technology adoption and advocation platforms like the IET Future Tech Congress help organisations understand the path to development and growth for the industry at large.

Technology infusion in multiple aspects of manufacturing will drive improved efficiency in energy usage and help in controlling greenhouse emissions produced by the sector. Running more sustainable manufacturing units will impact bottom lines positively. Sustainability will soon not be a matter of choice but a business imperative.

The author is CEO and MD of Siemens Technology and Services Pvt. Ltd.

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.

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