How Maintenance Excellence Drives Operational Efficiency and Advances Net-Zero Goals

Summary

Manufacturing facilities face mounting pressure to reduce operational costs and resource consumption. In a competitive landscape, leading companies are discovering that optimized reliability practices not only boost efficiency but also significantly reduce their environmental footprint. This dual benefit creates a compelling business case for sustainability initiatives, especially as consumers increasingly demand eco-conscious products.

The expanded scope of lifecycle assessment

To achieve meaningful operational improvements, manufacturers must adopt a comprehensive approach to asset management that extends beyond basic maintenance. This "total cost of ownership" perspective encompasses equipment reliability, energy efficiency, maintenance optimization and long-term asset value. It requires evaluating operational impacts across the entire facility, including utilities management, preventive maintenance programs and ultimately, equipment lifecycle planning.

This expanded view of asset management necessitates a greater focus on maintenance excellence, driven by reliability-centered maintenance principles and design approaches that prioritize efficiency, maintainability, and operational excellence. By extending equipment life and enabling more efficient operations, manufacturers can actively contribute to both cost reduction and resource conservation.
 

Plant maintenance to the forefront

The greater operational efficiencies that will help drive emissions down are extremely maintenance-centric. Modern asset management is a critical element of this, as capital investment decisions are increasingly driven by total cost of ownership considerations including energy and resource efficiency, improved equipment repairability, and greater ability for future upgrades to further reduce environmental footprint.

The state of the technology incorporated into new equipment also becomes more critical. Extending asset life involves delivering on long-promised but often elusive predictive and preventive maintenance models, and Industry 4.0 advances like IIoT-enabled sensors, analytical software using AI to better discern equipment breakdown patterns and cloud data management with improved dashboards and reporting all play a hand in making those deliverables a reality. The resulting improvements in overall factory reliability mean using less resources to deliver a given amount of goods while eliminating the various efficiencies generated by unplanned plant downtime.

Utilities maintenance and energy monitoring become even more critical

Maintenance has always been inextricably linked to plant utilities operation and management. The drive for operational excellence, sustainability and emissions reductions makes this connection even more important.

One technological aspect of this is that utilities management and maintenance equipment monitoring are becoming increasingly integrated. An example is the advanced utilities and sophisticated energy management system that industrial giant Siemens uses in its plant in Amberg, Germany, which has been recognized as one of the world’s most efficient factories. The plant features two combined heat and power systems, the use of green electricity from hydropower, and the introduction of eChillers. Central power use monitoring systems optimize power consumption in real time, which resulted in a reduction in the plant’s CO₂ emissions of more than 50% by 2020.

Siemens is certainly not alone in its push to power its factories with clean energy. Here in the US, General Motors announced two years ago that its plants would run on 100% renewable energy by 2025. At that time, the company had already secured the necessary energy supply agreements from 16 renewable energy sites across 10 states.

Meanwhile, the company focused on the end of life for its products by first starting small. It began a partnership with Cirba Solutions, a battery recycling company, over 20 years ago to support the recycling of small batteries for its own employees. After successfully diverting millions of pounds of batteries from landfills with this effort, GM and Cirba are now shifting to doing the same with damaged and spent batteries from the carmaker’s EV models.

Digital tools like Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS) play an increasingly vital role in tracking and improving these sustainability and operational metrics, enabling maintenance teams to drive better performance across all aspects of plant operations, including environmental and emissions reduction goals.

Eliminating operational waste

These efficiency improvements align perfectly with manufacturers' core mission to eliminate waste. The same planning, monitoring, and optimization efforts that create world-class maintenance departments directly serve the broader drive to reduce operational costs at the factory level.

All the way back in 2012, for example, consumer products conglomerate Unilever already had over half its plants sending no waste to the landfill, as part of its Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

Unilever has also focused heavily on water use reductions, as part of its Climate and Nature Goals. This has involved several activities. First, the company has focused on making its products biodegradable and reformulating them where possible to require less water use. Second, within 100 of its factories in water-stressed locations, Unilever has established water stewardship councils, which have delivered water use savings of nearly 50%. To further enhance water management, Unilever is leveraging IoT-enabled water sensors to monitor consumption and detect leaks in real-time. These sensors send alerts based on specific conditions, enabling rapid response and preventing water waste. Finally, reaching beyond its own organization, the company joined the 2030 Water Resources Group to, in their own words, “…contribute to transformative change and build water management resilience in key water-stressed markets.”

New technologies bring new opportunities for circularity

The journey towards operational excellence and sustainable manufacturing is an ongoing one, and emerging technologies offer powerful tools to advance progress. These innovations present new opportunities to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and drive circularity across the entire product lifecycle.

Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, provides a more efficient and less wasteful approach to production. With material recovery rates of 95% or higher, 3D printing minimizes waste and enables the creation of complex geometries that enhance product functionality. For instance, conformal cooling channels printed within injection molds can significantly improve cooling efficiency, leading to faster cycle times, reduced downtime and fewer defects.

Digital twins, another groundbreaking technology, offer a virtual representation of physical assets and processes. One of the biggest benefits of digital twin technology is its ability to help extend equipment life through better maintenance planning and execution. By providing detailed insights into the condition and performance of equipment, digital twins enable proactive maintenance, reduce downtime and optimize resource allocation. This not only improves efficiency but also contributes to sustainability by minimizing waste and extending the lifespan of existing assets. Without this visibility, planning becomes difficult and can lead to wasted resources and materials. Digital twins can also be used to simulate and optimize designs for greater circularity, improve quality control to minimize waste, and even redesign legacy parts for production with newer methods like 3D printing.

Modern maintenance management software solutions also play a crucial role in sustainability efforts. These advanced systems go beyond the capabilities of their predecessors, offering enhanced data collection, communication, and reporting features. They enable manufacturers to effectively track sustainability metrics, identify areas for continuous improvement, and drive progress toward environmental goals.

By embracing these innovative technologies and embedding operational excellence and sustainability as core principles across all operations, manufacturers can significantly reduce their environmental footprint, meet the growing demand for eco-friendly products, and pave the way for a more efficient and sustainable future within the industry.