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As water scarcity and environmental pressures intensify, forward-thinking manufacturers are shifting from siloed improvements to factory-wide optimisation. By treating factories as interconnected systems, producers can recover resources like water and energy, driving efficiency and sustainability. Nicole Uvenbeck, director of factory sustainable solutions and OEM components at Tetra Pak, explores how the food and beverage sector can maximise every kilowatt and litre, reducing waste, emissions and operational costs while complying with stricter environmental regulations.

The manufacturing industry has reached an inflection point. Historically, organisations have focused on improving specific machines or lines, rather than considering factories in their entirety as complex, interconnected systems.

However, forward-thinking manufacturers are now beginning to consider this bigger picture. Rather than investing in improving one single aspect of production, to then lose these savings further down the line, producers are now looking to factory-wide optimisation and maximising every kilowatt and litre.

Water use, in particular, must be a focus for the food and beverage (F&B) industry. Today, the global food sector alone uses 70% of the world’s fresh water supply. 4 billion people – close to 50% of the global population – currently live under ‘highly stressed’ water conditions (which is defined as when a country is using 40% of its total available supply).

To mitigate this, water-based regulations are expected to increase worldwide, not just in water-stressed countries. Companies will find themselves subjected to harsher penalties for wasted water, making water conservation a priority for every business.

When organisations consider factories as single entities, capable of funnelling resources between departments and processes, efficiency can be accelerated. By evolving beyond the industry’s historic 'take-make-waste' approach, manufacturers can reimagine their impact on both the planet and their balance sheet.

The benefits of resource optimisation

By emphasising the restoration and re-use of products, materials and energy, manufacturers can explore ways in which they can put natural resources back into the value chain.

The benefits of this are three-fold. By reducing water and energy waste and fossil fuel use, manufacturers can reduce fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and water use.

In doing so, they can lower operational costs, which is something every company is striving for in the current economic climate.

Greater and more consistent resource optimisation also helps companies in their commitments to meet sustainability ambitions, as well as promoting compliance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

Making the most of every unit

Improving resource optimisation and recovery requires new and innovative technologies. For example, in a recent report on the technology-driven ‘fourth industrial revolution,’ McKinsey highlighted a Schneider Electric factory in Kentucky which used smart devices and predictive analytics to reduce energy use by 26%, CO2 emissions by 30% and water use by 20%.

Energy recovery can also be implemented via high temperature heat pumps that upgrade waste heat to use elsewhere in the factory. Heat pump technology systems can work in conjunction with other solutions, such as solar thermal collectors, which utilise the sun as an unlimited source of clean and renewable energy, powering the delivery of hot water and steam.

Meanwhile, water and cleaning chemicals can be recovered for re-use via filtration technologies, such as nanofiltration. For example, cleaning-in-place (CIP) technology – which cleans the interior of food manufacturing equipment using nanofiltration to separate water and caustic solutions – can lead to up to a 90% recovery of total spent CIP liquid.

Seeing the forest for the trees

Achieving resource optimisation across factories requires a new strategy that differs from the traditional way of working. A sustainable factory approach should be incorporated into all operations across manufacturers' production lines.

It should incorporate different elements of resource optimisation, which can be dialled up or down and adapted depending on customer needs. Ultimately, individual solutions should fit together seamlessly like a jigsaw puzzle, working alongside each other for a pan-factory transition to resource optimisation.

It is also essential that these capabilities can be integrated into existing lines without jeopardising product quality and safety or disrupting workflows.

Looking towards implementation

Any business looking to optimise every kilowatt and litre should look to tailored, integrated solutions that can be deployed flexibly, with an overall holistic approach in mind.

Finally, it is important to recognise that the process of resource optimisation can be incremental; for instance, a heat pump can be integrated into a single line alone, rather than supplying heat on a factory level from the beginning.

That way, F&B manufacturers can monitor and adjust their approach as they go along, to ensure the most effective form of optimisation for their business. To help them achieve this, close collaboration with trusted partners is a valuable method of ensuring a smooth transition to this ‘whole lifecycle’ form of manufacturing.

Ultimately, a regenerative approach to resource use is more than just a vision for the future; it’s a practical and profitable way to contribute to a more sustainable and resilient world.

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