Machsync｜What is ESG? How to use smart cutting to achieve net zero emissions in environmental issues?

What is ESG? How to use smart machining to achieve net zero emissions in environmental issues?

ESG has become a trendy topic in recent years. It is no longer just about evaluating the contribution of enterprises to society, but also has goals such as ESG investing strategies. Every government has also announced many related policies. If we ignore social issues such as the environment and energy, it will bring the world into a crisis, and we will not be able to run a business for a long time. How can we simplify the manufacturing of each link and carry out energy saving and carbon emission reduction? How can we reduce carbon emissions or even move towards Carbon Neutrality through the characteristics of the Internet of Things and digital transformation?

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What is ESG?

ESG is the abbreviation of three English words, namely environmental, social, and corporate governance. The UN Global Compact first proposed the concept of ESG in 2004 which is regarded as an indicator for evaluating the operation of a business.

Environmental aspect: Prevention and control of environmental pollution such as greenhouse gas emissions, water, sewage disposal system, and biodiversity.
Social Responsibility: Customer welfare, labor relations, diversity and inclusion, and other aspects of stakeholders affected by the sales industry.
Corporate governance: Business ethics, competitive behavior, supply chain management, etc. are related to company stability and reputation.

Net Zero Emissions Management

Before introducing net zero emissions management, let’s understand the definitions of these related terms below:

Net Zero Emissions

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), net zero emissions refer to the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (such as CH4, O3, N2O, CFCs, PFCs, HFCs, SF6, NF3, and other greenhouse gas emissions all considered) emissions, minus anthropogenic removal equals zero.

Greenhouse gases are emitted from the process of life and production activities through energy and resources. Therefore, when setting the goal of net zero emissions, it is necessary to first understand the source of emissions, so as to reduce emissions from the source. Currently, there are 55% of global emission comes from the production and use of energy, and 45% comes from the manufacturing and processing of industrial and agricultural products. If we want to move towards net zero, we need to use renewable energy and improve energy efficiency, also we must save energy and reduce carbon from the resource side, improve efficiency and reduce energy extraction and abuse.

For the manufacturing industry, to achieve net zero emissions, it is necessary to start by reducing the "manufacturing" of products, so that products, components, and materials can be recycled, thereby reducing the carbon emissions of products and components in the manufacturing process, and also reducing carbon emissions from the extraction and processing of raw materials.

Carbon Neutrality

Compared with Net Zero Emissions, Carbon Neutrality focuses on controlling carbon dioxide, which refers to the carbon dioxide emissions of enterprises, organizations, or governments in a certain period of time, and offsets the carbon reduction accumulated by planting trees, using renewable energy, etc. In the process, it is necessary to grasp the carbon emissions and carbon footprint through carbon inventory, and then take measures to reduce or exchange them, so that the carbon emissions in the atmosphere can maintain the status quo or not increase and achieve a balanced state.

Carbon-Negative

Carbon-negative means the amount of carbon removal is far more than the number of carbon emissions during a specific measurement period, and the excess amount can even be traded in the carbon market in the form of " Carbon Credits " to obtain profits.

Carbon Credits

Carbon Credits refer to the "right to emit carbon", which is usually calculated in one metric ton of carbon emissions. The method of production can be divided into two types. One is the government's mandatory control and trade, and the other is the produced in the voluntary market, it is often used as a means of carbon offset for enterprises.

How does Net Zero Emissions Management work?

When carrying out Net Zero Emission Management, enterprises can adopt ISO14001 standards for environmental protection to ensure that all organizational activities, products, or services of enterprises or social groups are effectively implemented and controls and Net Zero Emissions are not for carbon emission controls, in addition to carbon dioxide, other gases (such as CH4, O3, N2O, CFCs, PFCs, HFCs, SF6, NF3, and other greenhouse gas emissions are taken into account) will also cause environmental damaged, therefore, other greenhouse gases also need to be checked and planned. The ISO14064 standard will be adopted to find out the possibility of energy saving and improvement and can effectively reduce the impact on the environment.

In the part of carbon emission, the carbon footprint will be checked according to ISO14067, so as to quantify, monitor, report, and verify greenhouse gas emissions, and set a Carbon Neutrality or even Carbon Negative emission target for the results of the carbon inventory. Then, based on the ISO50001 energy management system standard establishes energy performance indicators and energy baselines, enabling organizations to develop, record, and maintain energy audits, and ultimately achieve true Net Zero Emissions, which not only improves global environmental issues but also improves the company's positive image and achieve win-win results.

How does smart cutting move towards the goal of Carbon Neutrality?

Ministry of Economic Affairs Policy - Net Zero Emissions: 3 Major Aspects 11 Measures

The three major aspects formulated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs include process improvement, energy conversion, and circular economy. Among them, process improvement refers to equipment replacement, smart energy-saving management, hydrogen technology development, and fluorine-containing gas reduction. Smart cutting is to introduce intelligence into the manufacturing industry by monitoring tool life, to achieve intelligent process management, not only saving a lot of costs for enterprises but also reducing carbon emissions.

Case Sharing - Production efficiency after introducing smart cutting

Number of parts: 6,000,000 pieces/year; 500,000 pieces/month
Total number of machines: 91 (90 without downtime)
300 processing parts per tool, each tool cost 1,050 NTD
New knives assembling cost 2,800 NTD per holder
Change cutting inserts of face cutter every 3,000 pieces, cost 1,050 NTD

The above case is the benefit obtained after the introduction of smart cutting in automobile factories. Among them, time, energy, and waste are the most related items to carbon emissions. When the processing time ( is shortened), the energy usage( is reduced), and the probability of waste generation is reduced, it can effectively reduce carbon dioxide emission the formula for the production calculation is as follows:

<Production quantity target>

Number of production parts: 6,000,000 pieces/year
Total number of production equipment: 90 sets

<Tool operating cost>

300 pieces produced limit, the average cost of tool replacement is 1,050 NTD
The average cost of assembling a new blade including operation is 2,800 NTD per holder
After monitoring to optimize, the produced limit is 3,000 pieces and the average cost of tool replacement is 1,050 NTD
Tool change time is 5 minutes for each
The cost of an hourly rate of equipment is 2625NTD(determined by various models)
Quantity / Tool life = Number of replacements
Changes * Change Time = Total Downtime
6,000,000 pieces/90 sets/300 tool changes x (5/60) hours = 18.52
A total of 18.52 hours/year of downtime for traditional tool changing
6,000,000 pieces/90 sets/3000 tool changes x (5/60) hours = 1.85
Tool change downtime 1.85 hours/year after monitoring optimized tool life
12.63 workpieces produce per hour

<Production optimization>

60/12.63 x 0.005=Δt=0.5%=0.02375min
6000000件 x 0.02375min / 60 = Δt =2375h = 98.96d
2375h x 2,625 NTD = 6,234,375 NTD/annual savings
18kW/h x 2375h x 0.18EUR x 35= 269,325 NTD/annual savings省(EU)
18kW/h x 2375h x 2.5NTD = 106,875 NTD/annual savings(TW)
18kW/h x 2375h x 0.510kg/kWh = 21,802.5 kgCO2e/annual savings(EU)
18kW/h x 2375h x 0.502kg/kWh = 21,460.5 kgCO2e/annual savings(TW)

*Base load + process load = total load 18 kW/h

Energy costs 0,18 EUR/ kWh(EU)

Energy costs 2.5 NTD/ kWh(TW)

CO2-Emission 510g/kWh - EU

CO2-Emission 502g/kWh – TW(110/9-Bureau of Energy)

Conclusion

The environmental protection issues in ESG, require the government, enterprises, and the people to work together to achieve the goal of energy saving and carbon emission reduction. Among them, carbon emission from manufacturing is one of the major factors affecting the environment.

Therefore, enterprises need to carry out Net Zero Emission Management and optimize the process to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and smart cutting can improve this problem for enterprises, not only saving a lot of costs but also reducing carbon emissions and creating a win-win situation.

Main image photo by AdobeStock

Reference BSI

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