FEATURE MACHINE BUILDING, FRAMEWORKS & SAFETY
sponsored by
Stefania Moruzzi
BUILDING ON THE BENEFITS OF Over 75% of the global top 50 machine
builders are actively promoting ways in which their machines enable greater sustainability for manufacturers – from energy efficiency to
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cross the globe, manufacturers are investing more in sustainable practices. The need to invest in sustainable
manufacturing is driven by both financial benefits and competitive positioning, with early adopters gaining the financial advantages and savings more quickly – including lower cost of energy, raw materials, water, consumables, catalysts, lubricants, etc. Manufacturers can also gain a competitive
advantage by embedding sustainability while the market is still developing. For early adopters, sustainable claims can beat the competition to a sale or contract. After all, an increasing number of invitations-to-tender from manufacturers now include sustainability requirements.
ADOPTING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES Sustainability-enabling technology almost always involves digital transformation. The market for digitally-enabled, more sustainable manufacturing, has a ‘tipping’ point when around half of manufacturers will have invested ‘significantly’ in digital transformation, with research predicting this to be around 2026 for larger manufacturers, and 2030 for smaller to medium-sized companies. Those who invest in the first half of the cycle should gain competitive advantage, in the second half they will simply be playing catch-up. Currently, 25-30% of global manufacturers of all sizes have made ‘significant’ adoption of digital technologies – the essential technological basis for sustainable manufacturing. This tells us that investing in sustainability-enabling technology still has plenty of potential for competitive advantage, but the clock is ticking.
WHICH TECHNOLOGIES ARE THE FOCUS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION? A new study by Siemens Financial Services analysed the sustainability-enabling features of manufacturing equipment and machines, as promoted by the world’s top 50 production machine builders. The most universal sustainability gain
focuses on decarbonisation and resource efficiency, specifically energy efficiency, applicable to most production machines.
20 DESIGN SOLUTIONS MARCH 2025
retrofitting. New research from Siemens Financial Services reveals how these machine builders define sustainability enablement, based on their published statements. Stefania Moruzzi, business development manager, Siemens Financial Services UK, explains
Almost as popular are the benefits of digitalisation, in the form of productivity gains through Industry 4.0 that enables manufacturers to do more with the same/less. Circularity is also clearly a major issue for most machine builders, over half of whom are offering retrofit and refurbishment options to their manufacturing clients in order to save natural resources in machine construction – carbon savings that can then be passed on to the
manufacturing client’s Scope 3 measurement. In addition, many machine builders are
remanufacturing worn parts, sometimes using additive manufacturing or 3D printing, while digital twin technology enables rapid development of new, more sustainable, machines. Water efficiency and the use of alternative
or recycled raw materials are only relevant to certain production machine technologies, such as food & beverage processing machines
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