CLEANING UP MANUFACTURING - IT'S EASY IF YOU KNOW HOW

Not just businesses but consumers have started preferring products manufactured sustainably. The article delves into how automation solutions can lead toward sustainable manufacturing.

- Anil Kumar

For us at F Inovance, sustainable manufacturing means manufacturing in a way that doesn't harm people and the planet. The most obvious way to do this is by using less energy in the production process. Other methods include things like cutting material waste and improving safety procedures. It's clear that we've all got to play our part in the drive to sustainability. And, as individuals, we are all feeling more and more pressure to be 'green'. But we cannot do this alone. The fact is that manufacturing companies also need to play their part.

SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING - THE BUSINESS CASE

Luckily, there's a business case for sustainable manufacturing alongside the ethical case. After all, energy expensive, and so are raw materials; if you could save money on these things, why wouldn't you? Not to mention the growing band of highly aware consumers who look out for sustainability not only in the products that they buy but also in the manufacturing processes of those products. Another consideration is government policies these are getting more stringent all the time. If you can proactively cut your factory's energy use in advance of regulation, that's a good deal easier than doing it reactively when you are told to.

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION IS A KEY PART OF SUSTAINABILITY

The most obvious way to get sustainable is to save energy. And, when it comes to factories, there's one often-overlooked industrial automation component that does more than almost anything else to achieve this.