The manufacturing industry accounts for much of the world’s energy consumption. In 2021, manufacturing accounted for a whopping 33% of all energy consumption in the U.S. Energy Information and Administration. In Norway, industry uses almost twice as much energy as private individuals annually*. By taking steps to reduce energy consumption, manufacturing companies can make a major impact on total consumption in the world.

* Based on calculation with average figures (2022) from Statistics Norway.

Many manufacturing companies have already adopted sustainability strategies to reduce consumption and emissions, and more and more are trying to get started. With the ongoing energy crisis and rising energy costs, many manufacturing companies are dependent on reducing their energy consumption to remain competitive – or even survive. In addition, the industry faces stricter regulations and regulatory requirements related to sustainability, as well as more environmentally conscious consumers. The time to start producing more sustainably is now.

Use digital tools to implement sustainability strategies on the site floor

Although many manufacturing companies already have sustainability strategies in place, the practical challenge is implementing the strategy on the plant floor. In order to produce more sustainably, it is crucial that production personnel have access to information on a daily basis. Only with insight into energy and raw material consumption can measures be taken to optimise production.

To solve this, you should use digital tools, which give operators and other personnel the information they need, while constantly working on the production process. Access to both real-time and historical data makes it possible to make both immediate and long-term improvements in production related to energy and raw material consumption, faulty manufacturing, traceability and more.

3 steps to reduce energy consumption

How can digital tools be used in practice? Below we share 3 steps on how you can map and optimize energy consumption in the production process.

Step 1: Map – “Are we using too much energy?”

See your spend compared to your normal spending, goals or budgeted spend in real time.

• Monitor consumption related to process areas and production lines
• Record events in production
• Record shifts, time of day and weather conditions
• Compare performance across plants, products, and manufacturing teams
• See consumption compared to sustainability KPIs (e.g. production carbon emissions)

Step 2: Explain – “Why are we using extra energy?”

Leverage context from the site floor to understand how to improve resource efficiency.

• Map the resource consumption of all products
• Find inefficient equipment
• Discover unknown patterns, wrecks or opportunities for improvement
• Contextualize data to manage sustainability KPIs
• Use best practice to standardize operations

Step 3: Optimize – “How can we reduce energy consumption and costs?”

Take actions that improve operational performance and sustainability, both at the process level and throughout the plant.

• Optimize production planning for better utilization of resources
• Reduce resource consumption and associated costs
• Reduce variations in production processes
• Make your supply chain more agile and resilient
• Ensure holistic optimization of the entire production environment

Sustainable production with Proficy Smart Factory

GE Digital’s Proficy Smart Factory software comes with all the features you need to gain insight into the manufacturing process and take action for a more sustainable production. Already using a MES solution from GE Digital? Then you have all the tools you need at your fingertips!

Via the Web-based dashboard platform Proficy Operations Hub, you can access visualized data anywhere, anytime. Below you can see tutorials of six widgets that can be used to gain insight into the energy and raw material consumption of the production process.

Proficy Operations Hub widgets

Sparkline

Displays time series data. Can be used in several areas:

• See energy or water consumption over a period of time
• Correlate energy or water consumption to temperatures/precipitation/weather conditions over a period of time

Watch the Sparkline widget tutorial

Bullet Graph

Displays target value and real value.

• See your energy consumption compared to normal consumption, budgeted consumption or goals

See Bullet Graph widget tutorial

Bar Gauge, Circular Gauge and Solid Gauge

Three widgets with different visualization of value compared to bucket.

• See your energy consumption compared to normal consumption, budgeted consumption or goals

View the Bar Gauge widget tutorial

See Circular Gauge widget tutorial

Watch Solid Gauge widget tutorial

Pie Chart

Displays data values in pie or doughnut chart. Can be used in several areas:

• Illustrate how consumption of e.g. energy and water affects total costs and greenhouse gas emissions
• Show most energy-intensive processes
• View material consumption

Watch the Pie Chart widget tutorial

Join us in reversing the trend

According to Statista, it is expected that energy consumption in industry will continue to increase in the coming years. This is despite an increased focus on sustainability and several challenges for the manufacturing industry, including increased energy costs and stricter regulations and regulatory requirements.

With the right tools in place, you can make a difference – both for the environment and your own business. Do you want to help reverse the trend and work for a more sustainable industry? We’ll help you get started!

Ask us about Smart Factory and sustainability

Affordable and clean energy

Energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. More recently, with the war in Ukraine, it has also become a national security issue. So, as well as, increasing substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2023, energy providers also need to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services.

Achieving this is a huge task, but as with the water industry, it starts with data. With data you can fuel the advanced technology needed to monitor, predict and reduce emissions. So, for instance, using advanced analytics and artifical intelligence (AI) energy companies can set and achieve emission targets. And with greater

visibility and understanding it is easier to identify cost-saving in the network. This is set against a background of an increasing number of distributed energy sources, companies, digital technologies, and solutions in use; coupled with the fact that this technology is also beginning to mainstream the bi-directional flow of power back into the grid from consumer level via domestic battery storage and generation such as solar, and vehicle to grid technology.

There is no doubt that energy systems are becoming more and more complex and multi-factorial. Therefore, the need for data to integrate, so it can be managed as a whole, becomes more vital. This is essential to provide greater insight and thereby achieve net zero.

Gathering data allows companies and policy makers to visualise and monitor the totality of the transition to a decarbonised energy system in real time. With a clearer view they can determine the direction in which the transition is moving, and the effectiveness of implemented policy. The more visibility of data, the more business and policy makers can move away toward a proactive approach, built around data driven predictions.

In summary, managing the change from fossil fuel to decarbonised power generation requires the necessary data so that a balance between the environment and business economies, can be achieved. To see how this can work in practice download this useful whitepaper.

To learn more about how Novotek can help the energy industry achieve its sustainability development goals, get in touch with us here

The clean water and sanitation goal

There are six sub-goals to this, but the one that concerns most in the developed world is:

6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater, and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.

In the UK, it is illegal for water companies to dump untreated sewage from discharge pipes without a permit. Yet data released by the Environment Agency revealed that water companies discharged raw sewage into English rivers 372,533 times last year. This is often due to very heavy rainfall, blockages, and unexpected equipment failures. Key to these issues, is having the data available to alert you to potential issues before they occur. These issues must be set in the context from the pressures coming from PR19, such as supply shortages and pricing, which is why there is now an additional focus on using data to address the sector’s environmental impact.

At Novotek, we are using software from GE Digital to help Water/Wastewater companies improve their operations and practices using the latest HMI/SCADA software applications. You can explore real customer examples here, but in summary these are:

• Using data analytics to detect and predict leaks within the network before they even occur. Thus, allowing preventative maintenance to take place, which in turn reduces wastage.
• Using smart monitoring of sewerage controls to prevent flooding and bursting; and combining this with metrology data to predict periods of heavy rainfall.
• Prevent wastage of fresh water by monitoring reservoir fill and usage to avoid wastage from overflow, as well as monitoring clean water pipes to avoid wastage of freshly treated water.

In practice, many water companies lack the right data systems and processes to extract meaningful predictions. There is also a lack of experience in the complex area of data analytics. Having a partner, such as Novotek, can help water companies over come these hurdles and allow them to effectively utilise the data.

Usually there are a number of key steps we go through with customers. These are:

• Conduct an audit to determine what data is currently available, where the data is, and where the gaps in data are against the objectives they are trying to achieve.
• Assessing who needs what data, and what they should do with it.
• Ensure these data systems are connected and able to communicate with each other. This might involve rearchitecting, upgrading SCADA systems, new hardware, and the use of middleware.
• Finally, presenting the data in a way that transforms it into tangible predictions or recommendations.

To find out how Novotek are helping water companies achieve their sustainability and resilience goals, get in touch with us here

Front-running companies are already pursuing circular strategies and successfully developing new, circular markets. This includes start-ups such as ACTronics, which remanufacturers automotive electronic equipment and CRS Holland, which recovers and recycles marine cable. It is becoming increasingly apparent that to remain competitive in the globl market and create a future-proof business, circular economy business strategies must be adopted.

Why is the circular economy important to industrial businesses?

Although it is a simple concept at heart, truly adopting a circular economy would be difficult to achieve overnight. It requires a change of mindset towards how we can be more sustainable and this needs to be present at every level within a business. On a general view, those who adopt the circular economy will design products and services in such a way that: 

• The value added in manufactured products is maintained through maintenance, reuse, and remanufacturing.
• Where value can no longer be retained in the above way, products and packaging are recycled.
• Energy inputs are sourced from renewable sources.
• Resource use is consistent and responsible, making the most of natural resources.  

What key environmental issues is the circular economy tackling today? 

Through adopting the principles of the circular economy, businesses can reduce their reliance in using and disposing of the world’s natural resources. Materials “looping around” may carry lower cost structures than those extracted and processed from source – and that can mean that cost incentives line up alongside environmental goals. And that can allow industrial firms that have traditionally been focused on throughput and uptime to a more balanced view where the plan reflects the mix of targets. One of the primary environmental issues that the circular economy is tackling today is recyclability. 

Recyclability is the process of retaining the highest value of products at the end of their life, enabling their recycling into high-end applications. It is also what you might call as ‘end-of-pipe’, while a circular economy’s ‘upstream’ solutions address potential problems right at the source.  

“In a properly built circular economy, one should rather focus on avoiding the recycling stage at all costs. It may sound straightforward but preventing waste from being created in the first place is the only realistic strategy” – World Economic Forum. 

It is common for manufacturers to partner with end-of-life resource management companies during the design phase to integrate the appropriate features to facilitate end-of-life handling.  

What Novotek can bring to the table.

Novotek are an advanced industrial IT and automation solutions company who provide world class hardware and software to a range of manufacturing, process, and production sectors. Within their wide portfolio they offer products that fulfill manufacturers’ needs for greater visibility through a broader circular loop. One product that stands out is the Proficy Plant Applications software , which interacts with inventory and supply chains as well as ERP so that the condition under which something is processed in a factory is easier to share as is the provenance of the materials used.

Furthermore, the ability to track and trace in relation to having detailed data about the processes, conditions, and quality of those materials going through the full loop can be monitored using Proficy Plant Applications.  

Real-life Example: 

For instance, if a steel manufacturer is running a manufacturing execution system (MES) like Proficy Plant Applications, it provides rock solid traceability in terms of both the materials that go into the process and quality-related process data that occurs in relation to a specific run. Combined with final product quality data, the steel manufacturer is now able to easily understand (and prove) what process conditions allows them to make best use of recycled or repurposed materials. Which is data they can share with their customers too.  

Core sustainability elements are supported in systems capabilities like MES for track and trace, and quality management alongside Proficy Historian for gathering and sharing very detailed process data. And then if we think about dealing with the variability that comes as a product or a material that goes through multiple lifetimes, that’s where an analytics tool like Proficy CSense can help determine the best way to adjust processes and recipes.  

Conclusion.

Although in its relative infancy, regulation in support of the circular economy is coming. As global political momentum gathers around climate change and related challenges such as marine plastic pollution, long term waste disposals, politicians, stakeholders, and businesses will need to adapt. Those who have already taken steps in this direction will benefit the most. There are already companies that are shaping themselves around capitalizing on the circular economy. There is still time for less sustainability-minded companies to take the necessary steps to adapt their business models to position themselves within the circular economy.  

Novotek primarily sees its role as enabling industrial businesses to become more efficient. It is an inevitable consequence of this enablement that waste is reduced, and less raw materials are consumed. But the circular economy is more than that, it is also about recycling and reusing to move towards a close loop system.