Important role for industrial automation in addressing climate change

An article on the economist impact website highlights the importance of industrial automation in achieving net zero emissions. The article refers to the recent IEA Global Conference on Energy Efficiency held in Versailles.

Industrial automation is the key to addressing the energy and climate crises

Industry is responsible for 32% of the world’s CO2 emissions, most of which are caused by energy consumption. And although industry has a long history of implementing energy efficiency measures, the energy crisis and the climate emergency are spurring a new efficiency drive. The International Energy Agency believes that this latest wave of efficiency programmes could help industry to eliminate 70% of carbon emissions.

At the agency’s latest Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, 45 governments endorsed the goal of doubling the average global rate of energy efficiency improvements by the end of the decade, highlighting the importance of “digitalisation and demand-driven solutions”.

Barbara Frei, Schneider Electric’s executive vice president of industrial automation, points out that attempts to tackle energy waste are nothing new in heavy industry. The energy crisis in the 1970s sparked a wave of innovation, as did the 2008-09 credit crunch. However, she argues that there are still significant energy savings to be made.

“About 55% of industrial energy waste is in heavy industries,” Ms Frei says. “While many have actively addressed it for decades, most can improve efficiency by another 5% to 10%.”

Light industry, by contrast, is less energy-intensive and so there has been less incentive to launch efficiency projects. “Historically, light industry has not done much to address energy efficiency. Low energy prices meant the payback was not there,” she explains. The energy crisis is now making efficiency projects economically viable, and the lack of previous activity leaves a lot of room for improvement.

German chemical and consumer goods manufacturer Henkel is one example. Although no stranger to energy efficiency, it identified inefficiencies in a detergent plant’s energy intensive spray dyeing process. After deploying automation software, the plant improved energy efficiency by 5%.

Automation and optimisation

Energy efficiency, Ms Frei argues, is just one part of wider digital transformation programmes, in which automation, energy and software optimise resource consumption (including power, fuel, water and raw materials), process design and equipment utilisation. Combined, these three elements drive productivity, resource efficiency and energy efficiency.

Ms Frei says the success of this kind of programme is heavily reliant on analytics. “If you want to optimise a process, you must gather a lot of data, store it in a single data hub, then run analytics to identify where efficiencies can be made. To fully realise our sustainability potential, we must fundamentally change the technology model. Proprietary systems are a challenge for industry. They make it difficult for businesses to address current challenges and they stifle innovation.”

Open standards

Ms Frei suggests that future challenges can be addressed only with an architecture built on open standards, where automation solutions are created by plugging together best-of-breed applications.

Convinced of the need for plug-and-produce automation software components, Schneider Electric joined with other industry leaders and pioneers to form UniversalAutomation.org, a not-for-profit association of users, vendors and academics, managing a shared-source technology. And, to demonstrate its commitment to interoperability, they launched the world’s first universal automation solution, EcoStruxure Automation Expert.

“Low code, graphical tools and software will make systems more reliable, more easily expanded and adapted for future needs,” says Ms Frei. “Making this shift will unlock the industries of the future. The combination of openness, software and automation will increase throughput, avoid downtime and cut energy use.”

Dashboards improve visibility into a company’s operations. “Supervisors make data-driven decisions instead of acting on instinct. Instead of waiting months to access data, you can access it in real time. You gain insight into the operational indicators and efficiency levers that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It becomes easier to report your Scope 3 emissions. And managers can oversee assets across the entire value chain.”

Each industrial sub-segment will adopt different approaches to automation. Process optimisation relies on experts who understand specific production methods, the KPIs that define successful production, which quality indicators to use and how to formulate the most sustainable approach for that business.

Employee engagement

Ms Frei believes that the best experts are a company’s own employees, the people who manage processes daily. She is quick to acknowledge that Schneider Electric’s own Smart Factories programme relied heavily on its staff. The programme, which began in 2017, deployed a full digital transformation effort, including automation and industrial software, in its factories. “The employees on the shop floor prioritised where they wanted to optimise.”

At its manufacturing plant in Batam, Indonesia, Schneider Electric’s Smart Factories programme decreased downtime by 44% in its first year, as well as improving operational efficiency by 12% and increasing on-time delivery by 40%.

However, employers cannot take their workforce for granted. Employees can equate an automation project with job cuts, so it is important to manage the process carefully. Schneider Electric includes its employees in automation planning, and they are encouraged to propose new projects.

Automation also requires new skill sets, so it presents a learning opportunity for many. Ms Frei believes it to be a win-win for employer and employee. “Recommendations of how to optimise usually come from the employees. As a result, we become more competitive and better positioned in the market, and employees can clearly see these positive impacts. It’s important to make employees part of the story.”

The energy crisis is a powerful economic driver for energy efficiency, but so is addressing the climate crisis. Combined, the two will provide sustained momentum behind energy efficiency programmes. Industry will turn to digital solutions to help to optimise processes. But they will also rely heavily on the most important resource – their own people.

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