Why machine and system building play a crucial role

Machine building plays a central role in the ecological transformation of industry. Depending on design and operation, forward-looking system planning can influence energy and material consumption. The purposeful use of materials, recyclability and modularity are important steps towards a circular economy and increase the service life of a system. Digital technologies enable decisions to be made based on data and support resource-saving production.

Political framework conditions at the European and international level are prompting the industry to take a closer look at sustainability. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for global sustainable development, with some of these goals specifically focusing on industry. In Europe, the European Green Deal and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are key drivers for greater transparency and responsibility in sustainability reporting.

Political framework conditions for sustainable automation

This political framework also has an indirect influence on machine and plant building. Manufacturing companies must improve their sustainability balance and will pay more attention in future to ensuring that their machines and plants are designed to be energy-efficient and conserve resources.

Important principles and guidelines at a glance:

Energy efficiency guidelines: The European Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050, includes measures to improve energy efficiency. The EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) requires a comprehensive analysis of the energy consumption of technical systems.

Circular economy principles: The German Circular Economy Act (KrWG) and the EU Waste Framework Directive promote product longevity and optimal recycling processes. For machine builders and engineers, this means making sure that the components used are manufactured using as few resources as possible, for example from recycled aluminum. When planning machines and plants, a modular design can make it easier to recycle the facility later on.

The Product Carbon Footprint: In machine building, the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) plays a decisive role in determining the carbon footprint of products. It records greenhouse gas emissions along the entire life cycle – from raw material extraction to disposal. It helps engineers to plan machines and plants with the lowest possible CO₂ footprint in the manufacturing phase.

Digital Product Passport of the EU: The Digital Product Passport (DPP) of the EU is a future digital data set that contains all information about the life cycle of a product. It includes details such as materials, origin, environmental impact, repairability, and disposal options. The aim of the DPP is to promote transparency and sustainability in the EU market by providing information on the entire value chain. This makes it easier for engineers and machine builders to understand the sustainability balance of drives and other components.

The most important determining factors in plant building

Sustainability is a complex topic that is determined by extensive political framework conditions, regulations, and new requirements for manufacturing companies. How can these new requirements now be implemented in concrete terms in machine and plant building?

This is what counts:

• Concept of the plant: A well thought-out, modular design enables easier repairability and servicing, thus helping to avoid unnecessary waste. The possibility of simply reusing or replacing individual components extends the service life of the plant and thus promotes sustainability.

• Modern control concepts: They use sensors to record and evaluate machine data. This enables optimization of the various processes in automation, such as making the screw connections for a PCB. These optimized processes can be monitored using monitoring functions such as those provided by Festo AX.

• Scalability and flexibility: Plants should be designed in such a way that they can be adapted to fluctuating output quantities and new production steps through scalability and flexibility. The expandability through additional components enables a more efficient use of the plant. This provides the necessary flexibility so that the plant can later be adapted to changing requirements and equipped with new functions.

• Component selection: Taking the product carbon footprint (PCF) into account is important when selecting components for any sustainable system design. The use of alternative materials and lightweight design concepts may influence the PCF; the effect must be assessed for the specific product and methodology. Although carrying out life cycle analyses is not the direct responsibility of the designers, they need to apply the specifications of the relevant experts.

• Energy-efficient drives: Choosing the optimum drive technology is crucial for developing sustainable production machines. Experienced machine builders know that there is no universal energy-saving drive system; instead, the choice depends on the specific requirements of each system. In order to design sustainable automation solutions, it is important to be familiar with the advantages of pneumatic and electric drives and their possible applications.

Designing sustainable production plants requires various elements to be carefully coordinated. From modular designs and modern control technologies to the choice of efficient drives, every step improves the efficiency and service life of the system.

Conclusion

Machine and system builders play a crucial role in making industry more sustainable by designing machines and production plants to be efficient. All aspects of sustainability, from planning to operation and disposal of the systems, must be taken into account and optimized by selecting suitable drives, components and open-loop controllers.

Automation designed for energy and resource efficiency may reduce selected environmental impacts of industrial processes. This helps manufacturing companies to achieve their sustainability goals and contributes to environmental protection for future generations.