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‹ Back100 companies for resource efficiency
A wise man once said that the only resource that we can waste, and even increase, is knowledge. We have to deal efficiently with all other resources. (From the Foreword to the Project 100 Companies for Resource Efficiency by Minister President of the State of Baden-Württemberg Mr. Winfried Kretschmann)
The "100 Resource Efficiency Operations" project is an integral part of the "Resource Efficiency Alliance", signed in 2013 between the state government and the country's leading business associations, including the National Federation of Industry (LVI) and the Land Divisions of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( BWIHK), the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) and the Central Association of the Electrical Engineering and Electronics Industry (ZVEI).
The project is professionally supervised and organisationally coordinated by a network of the Institute of Industrial Ecology (INEC) of the University of Applied Sciences Pforzheim and Umwelttechnik BW, the State Agency for Environmental Technology and Resource Efficiency.
The project is looking for measures to be implemented in production that successfully save resources, i.e. energy or materials, and significantly improve resource efficiency (e.g. through increased yield). The approaches and implementation examples of the participating companies will subsequently be published as useful practical examples in the form of 2 textbooks.
Companies that have successfully participated in the project and have been included in the list of "100 establishments" will receive a lump sum prize of EUR 10,000 and are entitled, for example for promotional purposes, to use the project signet of the country.
Given that at Grieshaber the efficient use of (material) resources is not only an environmental aspect, but also a tangible economic aspect and a success factor, we are constantly dealing with this topic.
Starting position and objective at Grieshaber
The core competence of medium-sized Grieshaber GmbH & Co. KG is precision-machined parts made of non-ferrous metals and stainless steels. The focus here is on the processing of aluminium alloys in medium and large series and in the small series range for stainless steels. In the production of precision parts, flawless quality and reliable fulfillment of customer requirements are indispensable. It is therefore necessary to continuously analyse and optimise your own process flows. Processes that have grown over many years often result in material and resource losses that are taken for granted and the cost of which, including lost value added, is unknown or not investigated.
Approach and idea at Grieshaber
In order to uncover potentials for increasing resource efficiency, Grieshaber therefore carries out an analysis of the flow of materials and information (the processes) time and again (starting a few years ago and therefore independent of the project). The goals here are the creation of transparency within the material and information flow, the coordination of EDP systems (e.g. ERP system, SharePoint, etc.) with the operational material and information flows, a process design based on material and information flows and the reduction of misunderstandings and friction points in the organisation, and ultimately an increase in performance by means of innovation and cost savings with improvements in efficiency.
ImplementationUmsetzung
At the beginning of the project a few years ago, a cross-departmental team of department heads and management was formed to visualise the material flows of the entire operation. This resulted in initial starting points for reducing material losses and efficiency potential throughout the logistics chain. Similarly, essential information flows were visualised as process-related, in order to jointly re-evaluate process, organisation and communication and to design accordingly. The project team combined the different views on material and information flows and developed collaborative improvement activities at all levels. In the area of material flows, a special distinction was made between the flows of production material, tools and packaging materials. The information flows were visualised according to the operational processes, whereby a further distinction was made in repetitive parts and new starts. In the subsequent period and to date, individual (sub-) processes and areas were analysed by corresponding teams and weaknesses and potentials were identified. On the basis of the results, various measures were identified and implemented.
Examples of successful measures so far are:
- Identification of unplanned downtime and initiation of various measures
- Optimisation of rejects and material waste
- Optimisation of occupancy planning of machines and plants
- Optimisation of energy consumption, e.g. within warm-up cycles
- etc.
Qualification
In autumn 2016, in coordination with the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences and Umwelttechnik BW, a project report with a presentation of the course of the project and examples of success was prepared and submitted to the promoters. In November, we received the good news that our approach of "optimising resource efficiency with the use of a material and information flow analysis" was selected as one of the 100 best examples in the country and was therefore published as an example of good practice.
Therefore, we will "waste" the promised prize money on the only resource we are allowed to waste it on, on knowledge. Training and coaching measures are planned here, which in turn should help to continuously improve the material and information flows at Grieshaber in the future.
