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No race
for resources
Egon Müller is one of the leading experts
in innovative production structures and factory
concepts. The Professor of Factory Planning and Factory Management at the Chemnitz
University of Technology believes that savings potential of up to 50% can be realised over
the next decade through environmental production factors. In this interview he explains
the importance of staying out of the race for energy resources.
Interview
About the person
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Egon Müller
Egon Müller heads the Department of Factory Planning
and Factory Management at the Chemnitz University of
Technology. He and his team of 30 staff members work
on the development of future production structures and
new factory concepts in mechanical and plant engineer-
ing and for the automotive industry and its suppliers.
These include flexible and versatile factories as well
as non-hierarchical regional production networks.
The department offers extensive expertise in the field
of computer-based factory planning, modelling and
simulation as well as energy-efficient factory planning.
www.tu-chemnitz.de/mb/fabrplan/englisch
trends in automation:
Professor Müller, you see a savings
potential of between 30% and 50% of the total consumption
of material and energy resources. Is this figure not too high?
Prof. Egon Müller:
To back up this statement, we need to first
remind ourselves of a well-known principle of physics. Energy
can be transferred between systems, but cannot be created or
destroyed. It can only be converted from one form of energy
into another. Furthermore, energy conversion between differ-
ent forms of energy and energy levels must take place in one
direction and cannot be reversed. If you look at a factory as a
“total energy consumption system”, in which a wide variety
of energy conversion processes take place, the potential you
referred to can be achieved systematically. When it comes to
the consumption of material resources, the use of new materi-
als and their cycles – in other words their reuse – is of major
importance along with new technological methods. For factory
planning and operation, this means generating new concepts
that, for example, bring together mechanical engineering and
process engineering in order to create these cycles.
trends in automation:
In your book “Energieeffiziente Fabrik-
en planen und betreiben” (Planning and Operating Energy-effi-
cient Factories), you show how the potential for energy savings
can be exploited systematically. What are the key points here?
Müller:
I could refer to the necessary holistic approach,
but that wouldn’t be any more useful than merely suggesting
a systematic approach. A factory is first and foremost a group
of people who use the available machines and equipment
to create products from materials. These processes are also
planned by people and are therefore to be anticipated. We
must develop appropriate competencies and train the people
in the factory to realise this potential systematically using the
methods and tools provided. Along with this aspect, a holistic
view of the supply, conversion, transfer, and use of energy
as well as its optimisation in the factory play a key role.
trends in automation:
To what extent can energy efficiency
be made a strategic competitive factor for a company?
Müller:
Continuously rising energy prices and the associated
direct cost effect will be a major issue for companies in the
future. Issues surrounding the availability of and access to
energy resources will also become a strategic success factor
for companies. Looking at the forecasts for future energy
demand by energy source and economic area for the period up
to 2030, it is already clear that companies in a position to opt
out of this race for energy resources will have a major competi-
tive advantage. It is also clear that the best energy efficiency
measure is, quite simply, to save energy.