Industrial Energy Efficiency – reduce emissions and costs

Tackling both energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in industry is more urgent than ever, as energy markets surge with volatility and environmental regulations tighten. By applying smart energy efficiency solutions across the entire value chain, energy usage in production can be reduced and thus drive down costs – all without limiting productivity. Digitalization, automation, and service solutions can help to transform energy efficiency into a real added value for industry.

In this issue of Discover Digitalization, we introduce you to the automotive supplier ElringKlinger AG. In keeping with its pioneering role, ElringKlinger AG has set itself an ambitious goal: The company aims to achieve CO₂-neutral production in Europe by 2025 and in the USA and Asia by 2030. Learn more about how we supported ElringKlinger to fulfill this ambitious goal.

Leading the way towards energy efficiency: ElringKlinger's sustainable automotive solutions

The automotive supplier ElringKlinger has recognized the urgency of being energy efficient and is fully committed to sustainability. For example, ElringKlinger is the first Tier 1 supplier to offer its own integrated drive train for electric vehicles consisting of an electric drive unit, battery, and fuel cell. In addition, there is the first series production of fuel cells based on e-fuels in Germany. This expertise is also appreciated by Airbus , with whom ElringKlinger is jointly developing a fuel cell for aircraft.

An ambitious goal: CO₂-neutral by 2030

In keeping with its pioneering role, ElringKlinger AG has set itself an ambitious goal: The company aims to achieve CO₂-neutral production in Europe by 2025 and in the USA and Asia by 2030.

Andreas Weiss, CU Vice President of Quality & Sustainability Management, is convinced: "Some people think sustainability and environmentally friendly production are some kind of luxury: but these are hard-core, entrepreneurial factors, creating money that literally flows through any company. You either do something with it or just let it flow away."

ElringKlinger "does something with it". However, this also implies mapping the entire carbon footprint of all products in all plants worldwide. Such an ambitious project requires a strong partner – which ElringKlinger has found in us.

Working with ElringKlinger, Siemens designed the company's digital transformation, which consists of the three aspects digitalization, automation, and standardization and is scalable to all plants worldwide.

Standardization: The foundation of a digital enterprise

Digitalization and automation are integral parts of a digital enterprise that can master current challenges, such as more individual product development with scarcer resources. Digitalized and automated processes ensure faster, more flexible, and more efficient production. Standardization lays the groundwork for implementation: It reduces the complexity of the overall plant architecture and simplifies the integration of machines and systems.

The result: Engineering time is reduced, plants are commissioned faster, process changes are implemented more quickly, and products are launched on the market in less time.

A holistic approach for sustainable production: Increasing efficiency, reducing costs, saving resources

An important step on the path to sustainable production is to optimally use resources. Thanks to the implemented solutions, ElringKlinger achieves comprehensive data transparency that’s used to create a concept for the generation, storage, procurement, and use of energy: and that’s holistic energy management. Here are the challange solutions at a glance:

Improved energy efficiency

Thanks to holistic energy management, key energy efficiency figures can be displayed and analyzed and appropriate optimization measures can be initiated to improve the energy efficiency of ElringKlinger's plants. This also fulfills legal requirements: for example, in accordance with the specifications of ISO 50001 or for specific CO₂ certificates that favor tax refunds.

Optimal load management

With the Siemens solution, ElringKlinger also relies on ideal load management. 

The company produces its own energy, first in the form of waste heat and second as solar energy, which the company promotes to increase its resource efficiency. This energy generation can now be integrated into balancing load management, which in turn reduces costs.

CO₂ neutrality

Emission monitoring and control is conducted as part of energy management. It measures CO₂ emissions, determines the CO₂ footprint for each product, and thereby creates all the conditions for minimizing this footprint. 

Read the full article on our Industry Stories platform: “Smart energy management for maximum sustainability”.

Discover Digitalization

Our LinkedIn newsletter contains a broad variety of topics that surely are of interest for decision makers in industry: Digital Enterprise, Sustainability, Digital Twin, IT/OT Convergence, Cybersecurity, and Ecosystems. In our next issues we will dig deeper into these topics and give you the best insights on how to successfully manage your digital transformation.

So, no time to wait – subscribe now to our newsletter and get excited about our next issue in April, highlighting an exciting story of vertical farming.

If you cannot wait until the next issue, learn more from inspiring stories about real-world Digital Enterprise examples in Industry Stories or tune into Talking Digital Industries – The podcast for technologies and trends that drive industrial enterprises.

#DigitalTransformation #DigitalEnterprise #SustainableIndustries #EnergyEfficiency #IndustrialEnergyEfficiency