There are many advantages to digitizing business processes. Recurring processes can be automated with the help of suitable applications so that experts only need to be deployed to check and correct them. The working time freed up as a result can be used elsewhere, for example to further develop the business. In addition to saving human working time, digital technologies can also be used to make processes more efficient and transparent, which in turn saves time and money. Bridging spatial and temporal boundaries is also becoming increasingly important for business collaboration. Remote work tools are making coordinated work increasingly successful - whether from the office, on the road, from a home office or across different company locations.

Manufacturing companies are increasingly using sophisticated machines to support production. As a result, they consume more electricity and emit a large proportion of global_{CO2 emissions}: in 2020, manufacturing companies were responsible for 38% of energy consumption and 26% of_{CO2 emissions} on the planet. The use of collaborative robots, end-to-end monitoring solutions, remote work and predictive maintenance tools is also generating ever-increasing data and energy flows. The data is often stored, sorted and routed in large data centers, which in turn require a lot of electricity to operate. Improving their own ecological footprint is therefore an important long-term task for the manufacturing industry.

Green engineering for climate protection

In order to achieve this and make processes more sustainable, production companies often make use of the engineering process known as green engineering. The focus here is on the holistic analysis, development and evaluation of energy and material management processes to protect natural resources. Digitalization technologies such as sensors and data analyses make it possible to examine, control and minimize resource consumption. In addition to reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, the networked use of environmentally friendly technology can also increase productivity in the manufacturing industry. However, the more processes are digitized, the more digital devices companies use and the more negative environmental impacts occur.

The study shows that there is a trade-off for the vast majority of the companies surveyed: between the use of digital technologies and absolute energy savings. As the use of digital technologies increases, the energy consumed rises by 1.03% within a year. If only electricity consumption is considered, this even increases by 1.34% within a year. In contrast, the energy consumed to generate electricity from fossil fuels hardly changes. This means that the overall increase in energy consumption is mainly caused by the higher electricity consumption of digital technologies. It therefore makes sense to keep these constantly up to date and to continuously search for energy-efficient alternatives.

Digitize intelligently and reduce consumption

Manufacturing companies need to digitize in a well thought-out way and reduce their electricity consumption sustainably. To this end, more and more manufacturing companies are integrating photovoltaic systems on the roofs of their production and manufacturing halls, for example. They are also improving the recording of their energy data and optimizing their machine utilization with AI solutions. Labelling energy-efficient software and hardware with the "Blue Angel" seal also contributes to sustainable digitalization. In order to permanently reduce energy consumption in the long term, it is important to keep up to date with the latest technological developments and to integrate new solutions into production operations in a sensibly networked way.

Tobias Thelemann, Product Manager Mechanical Components and Automation Technology at Reichelt Elektronik / am

This article appeared in issue 6/23