100% sustainable manufacturing footprint: utopia or feasible?
Volatility, labour shortages, rising costs, outdated assets and disparate crises require new strategies and new production methods to stay ahead. At the same time, with regulation on carbon footprints tightening, implementation of sustainable manufacturing cannot be delayed.
How can companies ensure their manufacturing operations are resilient and can sustain their success?
This question formed the basis of the round table discussion at Royal HaskoningDHV. Corporate Director Brand, Marketing & Communications Claire de Nerée tot Babberich and Global Market Leaders of Industry Patrick Ramakers and Robert van der Noordaa hosted the event. Bristol Myers Squibb, PepsiCo, Eneco, OFI, Tate & Lyle, Viscon, Bunge and Chaincraft shared perspectives, highlighting similarities and differences in experiences and approach.How to achieve sustainable operations that ensure resilience?
It is clear that the challenge is different across markets, companies and even functions. It’s no surprise then that questions on how to achieve sustainable operations also vary. They ranged from OPEX considerations connected to energy costs and the direction in which sustainable energy will develop, to how to reduce scope 3 emissions. We also considered how individual factories and the factory of the future will look in light of the many disruptions and geopolitical developments taking place across the world.
In spite of the diverse challenges, we were able to identify common factors which encourage success:
- You need a sincere desire to act;
- An external driving force, such as having to search for an emission-free solution, is often necessary or helpful to prompt action;
- It is essential to look for solutions in the entire ecosystem, not just within your own scope;
- It helps if you make a joint business case with a partner, in which you need to look closely at where the risks fall;
- Solutions are often highly innovative so you need support and conviction at board level;
- A link to purpose works well to get employee action in the workplace. Note however, that targets for intermediate layers of management (such as an efficient operation) may be difficult to reconcile with ambitions;
- It helps to start small, to conduct pilots and to learn what the effects are on, for example, an efficient operation.
Find solutions in order to scale up afterwards.
Success factors: holistic and budget-neutral business case
Close examination of individual case studies proved useful in providing more insight into success factors for sustainable manufacturing.
For example, PepsiCo and Eneco described the Volt project at PepsiCo's crisps plant in Broek op Langedijk. Both companies have ambitious climate targets - PepsiCo aims to be climate neutral in 2040 and Eneco in 2035. They explained how this joint vision resulted in what will be the first industrial electrification project with high temperature storage in the Netherlands.
Natural gas at the plant will be replaced by sustainable electricity. In order to reliably generate the heat needed to raise the temperature of the oil used for frying, the project includes an innovative thermal storage technique. Hot air produced by an electrical resistance heater is passed through a large container of iron slag which retains heat for long periods. When required, the air flow is reversed and heats the oil. The first phase of the project will bring down CO2 emissions at the plant by 51%. Further implementation of the thermal storage technology will assist in the ultimate aim of a 98% emission reduction.
It had been a real puzzle to tie all the systems together. A move to hydrogen had been explored, but it was not suitable for PepsiCo’s production processes and would have cost more than the chosen system - which can be scaled globally. Key to success were strong partnerships, early involvement of stakeholders and a holistic and budget-neutral business case.
Success factor: intrinsic sense of purpose
Another of the projects we discussed involved waste recycling infrastructure to contribute significantly to accelerating net zero targets. The company’s ambition was to have a budget-neutral and fully recycled waste stream. Currently waste is being burnt in ovens.A strong partnership (in this case with a waste management partner) was again identified as a key success factor. Another was the fact that the business case was set up for a region which had the least developed infrastructure on the basis that if the business case succeeded here, the roll out elsewhere would be easier. It was also important to develop and stick to clear design principles, while having an intrinsic sense of purpose.
The 100% sustainable manufacturing footprint is getting closer
Our inspiring Round Table discussion indicated that the 100% sustainable manufacturing footprint is getting closer. However, companies are still in the transition phase and some areas need further innovation and clarification.
A strong intrinsic sense of purpose within the organisation is vital for overcoming the multiple challenges in sustainability projects. With that in place, other factors such as innovation, strong partnerships, deep domain knowledge and a budget-neutral business case come into play.
What is very positive is that lots of initiatives are under way and that sustainability challenges are stimulating us all to rethink the way we manufacture. Opportunities and innovations are emerging.
To end, we settled upon three pieces of wisdom: It is important to make choices; don’t hang on to what is not working; and sometimes, just having the guts to start is all you need.
