Festo_Technology Plant

»I was involved with the planning of the building

services from the start. I now see empirical values from

other production sites actually put into practice. The

new control centre also makes our work easier: I can

use a smartphone or tablet to estimate when and

where help is needed.«

Michael Höschele, Building Services

Scharnhausen Technology Plant: Energy efficiency planned and put into practice

The specialists managed to lower the pres-

sure levels of the different networks at the

whole site from eight to six and 18 to 13

bar – a sustainable measure, as just a sin-

gle bar less pressure saves five per cent of

energy. To do so, around 100 installations,

such as metal-cutting machines, assembly

and test machines, had to be adjusted to

suit the new pressure ratios.

Transparency right through to the

machine itself

But not only the large energy consumers,

smaller installations with high energy con-

sumption are also expected to make a con-

tribution to conserving resources in Schar-

nhausen. For maximum energy transpar-

ency, certain machines have to continually

disclose their energy data: only that which

is measurable can be improved over the

long term. The experts thus use sensors,

for example to record the flow of electricity

or compressed air in the facility. The oper-

ating and consumption data read off from

the machine equipped with such a device

is integrated in the production network in

a compressed form and ultimately visual-

ised.

Nature and the environment

A very direct measure for conserving

resources and the environment is the

recovery of rainwater. The new building

features a reservoir with a capacity of

70,000 litres. This is used to supply the

sanitation facilities and water the green

areas. Excess water is fed into a retainer

tank for seepage so that the Körsch, Stutt-

gart’s second biggest river, does not flood

in the neighbouring conservation area. For

optimal noise protection, the acoustic

planners employed specific building meas-

ures to minimise sound radiation. Employ-

ees benefit from this in the buildings, as

do residents outside the factory premises.