Tim Heinemann

A Holistic Framework for Increasing Energy and Resource Efficiency in Manufacturing

The derivation of promising measures to improve energy and resource efficiency demands an integrated, system-oriented perspective in order to avoid conflicts of goals and problem shifting. This involves an extended understanding of production processes, process chains and factories, including all relevant inputand output flows and their dynamic consumption respectively emission patterns. Against this background the topic energy and resource efficiency calls for different fields of action which are presented within this paper: based on different measurement strategies, the deep understanding of single processes and interdependencies within process chains as well as suitable methods for the evaluation and prediction of energy or resource consumption patterns (e.g. through energy oriented simulation), it is finally a major goal to integrate energy-related key figures into conventional industrial decision support systems within production management.

A Hierarchical Evaluation Scheme for Industrial Process Chains: Aluminum Die Casting

Industrial process chains can consist of differing sub-process-chains with varying degrees of complexity and dynamic behavior. This fact makes it difficult to compare measures for enhancing the energy and resource efficiency of such systems. As a prerequisite a common basis for assessing the relevance of improvement measures that take effect on different system levels needs to be established. Against this background the paper proposes a hierarchical evaluation scheme for the aluminum die casting process chain that addresses the aforementioned process attributes in terms of data accuracy, dynamic behavior of system elements on different levels or the system as a whole.

Business Game for Total Life Cycle Management

Life Cycle Management (LCM) has established as research area to foster sustainability in all fields of action of organizations. To provide an understanding for this broad research area suitable teaching methods are required. This paper presents the concept for a business game based on the Framework for Total Life Cycle Management (TLCM). It enables participators to understand the interdependencies of four different management disciplines: product, production, after sales and end-of-life management. The educational objective is to continuously develop a holistic life cycle strategy. The game requires communication of all actors and reasonable activities towards sustainability. By that prospective managers can understand relationships and interdependencies of TLCM.

Synergies from Process and Energy Oriented Process Chain Simulation – A Case Study from the Aluminium Die Casting Industry

Due to the significant ecological relevance and constantly rising prices, energy consumption more and more gets into the focus of manufacturing companies which strive to consciously consider energy consumption when planning and managing production facilities. Thereby it is important to take into account the interdependencies on different hierarchical levels in a production system (between single processes and the whole process chain). Against this background this paper presents an approach for a combined application of an energy oriented process chain simulation and a detailed process simulation. This approach enables an integrated evaluation of the interactions of parameter variations on both levels.

Life Cycle Evaluation of Factories: The Case of a Car Body Welding Line with Pneumatic Actuators

During the planning phase of the build up or overhaul of factories a large share of the life cycle spanning impact of such production facilities is determined. Furthermore it is very hard to evaluate the impact of possible measures for improvement, resulting Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and environmental impacts of factory systems. Against this background this paper presents an integrated life cycle analysis approach for a streamlined economical and environmental life cycle assessment of factory systems. The approach gets applied while using two interacting tools for a) energy efficiency evaluation of pneumatic systems and b) life cycle evaluation of factory systems.

Handlungsfeld Bewertung von Energie- und Ressourceneffizienz in industriellen Prozessketten

Nach der erfolgten Vorstellung vielfaltiger technologischer wie auch organisatorischer Masnahmen zur Steigerung der Energie- und Ressourceneffizienz in der Prozesskette Aluminiumdruckguss wird in diesem Kapitel ein integrierender Rahmen aufgespannt, welcher die verschiedenen entwickelten Masnahmen und auch Methoden bzw. Werkzeuge in einen gemeinsamen Kontext setzt und auch eine vergleichende Bewertung der Masnahmen zulasst. Hierfur wird zunachst ein Bezugsrahmen fur ein hierarchisches Bewertungsmodell industrieller Prozessketten entwickelt. Bestandteil dieses Bewertungsmodells ist die Anwendung einer energieorientierten Materialflusssimulation und ihre Interaktion mit spezialisierten Prozess-Simulationswerkzeugen. Die Ergebnisse der vorgestellten Simulationswerkzeuge gehen in ein Energie- und Stoffstrommodell ein, welches auf Ebene der unternehmensubergreifenden Prozesskette Aluminiumdruckguss eingesetzt und zum Vergleich ausgewahlter Masnahmen herangezogen wird.

Multi-level Multi-scale Framework for Enhancing Energy and Resource Efficiency in Production

As a conclusion from the previous chapters, there is a demand to transfer holistic views on production into a general concept for energy and resource oriented improvement of hierarchically organised industrial value chains, process chains and processes. Therefore, this chapter introduces a concept for a hierarchical view on (cross-company) production and interlinked methods and tools for energy and resource oriented improvements of such systems. The following section introduces the research methodology used and provides a framework which supports decision making processes for the analysis of resource flows, and for the prioritization and selection of improvement measures.

Aluminium Die Casting and Its Environmental Aspects

Against the scope and objectives of the planned research work, this chapter provides the necessary theoretical background about hierarchically organized industrial value chains, the aluminium die casting process, the connected chain of upstream and downstream processes and the resulting challenges for energy as well as resource intensity of die casted products. Therefore this chapter serves as a basis for the later derivation of further research demand in order to increase the energy and resource efficiency of the aluminium die casting value chain.

Multi-level Multi-scale Framework for Enhancing Energy and Resource Efficiency in Aluminium Die Casting

After the technical introduction of the cross company aluminium die casting value chain and a multi-level and multi-scale framework for industrial production in general, this chapter serves a sample application of the derived framework by analysing and modelling a set of specific aluminium die casting value chains. The detailed analysis of these sample value chains is used for the creation of a generic energy and material flow model of aluminium die casting. Based on this model, further detailed investigations in the nature of the energy and resource usage are conducted. Furthermore, some selected improvement measures are introduced and evaluated to outline possible scenarios for making aluminium die casting more energy and resource efficient.

Industrielle Produktion und Aluminiumdruckguss

Die industrielle Produktion am Standort Deutschland ist aus historischer Sicht einer der wesentlichen Treiber des gesellschaftlichen Wohlstands. Dennoch sieht sich ihre Wettbewerbsfahigkeit grosem Druck aufgrund steigender Energie- und Rohstoffpreise ausgesetzt. Dies gilt insbesondere fur die Aluminiumdruckgussbranche, welche einen bedeutenden Industriezweig am Standort Deutschland darstellt. Im Verbundforschungsprojekt ProGRess haben sich daher namhafte Partner aus dieser Industrie und der Wissenschaft zusammengetan, um den aktuellen Herausforderungen zu begegnen.