Green Factory - towards carbon neutral production (GREEF)
Abstract
Climate change and its management is the most significant challenge facing our society. The Finnish government has set a goal for a carbon-neutral Finland by 2035. The technology industry has published a low-carbon roadmap towards this goal. The means of the emission reduction mostly relate to electrification of processes and machines, improving energy and material efficiency, the circular economy and the use of digital solutions. This requires large-scale industrial R&D investments in the green and digital transition. Environmentally friendly, low-carbon industrial production will be an increasingly important competitive factor in the international market.
Achieving an international competitive advantage requires a joint project between Finnish companies and research institutes.
The GREEF co-innovation project involves Aalto University, The University of Oulu, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and seven Finnish companies of different sizes: SEW Industrial Gears Oy, AGCO Power Oy, Proventia Oy, Leden Group Oy, Delva Oy, EQ System Scandinavia Oy and Componenta Oyj. The project will help companies reduce the environmental impact of their operations and products and accelerate them towards their low-carbon and export growth targets. The project covers a number of green industry themes that apply to each company. While companies focus on their most relevant themes, the GREEF research ecosystem increases the impact on the consortium and the industry as a whole.
The project combines industrial and scientific research in the best possible way.
The results provide best practices and models for:
- sustainable branding in the industrial market;
- energy-efficient production control and supply chain;
- the suitability and environmental impact of metal AM methods as a manufacturing method.
The project will also create a calculator for estimating companies' carbon footprint. The emerging know-how enables better identification of the environmental impact of the manufacturing industry and significant changes in operations and products that improve sustainability and competitive advantage.
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WP1 Green factory from branding perspective |
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Task 1.1 State of the art in sustainable industrial branding |
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Task 1.2 Green industrial branding ecosystems |
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Task 1.3 Methods for communicating environmentally sustainable industrial brands |
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Task 1.4 Carbon handprint from a business perspective |
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WP2 Carbon footprint (CF) calculators |
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Task 2.1 State of the art in industrial CF calculators |
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Task 2.2 CO2 and other emission sources and factors in the factory and supply chain |
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Task 2.3 CF calculators for manufacturing industry |
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Task 2.4 CF calculators for case companies |
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WP3 Sustainable production management |
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Task 3.1 Usability study of CF calculations in machine shops |
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Task 3.2 Implementation procedure of CF calculations |
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Task 3.3 Demonstration environment |
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Task 3.4 Sustainable and climate-friendly supply chain models |
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WP4 Industrial renewal in manufacturing processes and methods |
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Task 4.1 Technological capability and potential of metal additive manufacturing (AM) |
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Task 4.2 Environmental impacts and benefits of metal AM |
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Task 4.3 Remanufacturing |
Funding
Total budget is about 4.8 MEUR, of which Business Finland support is about 2.5 MEUR.
In addition to research organizations, the consortium includes 6 Finnish companies.
The project is part of Business Finland's "Sustainable Manufacturing Finland" program.