On April 3, we connect with Siemens Digital Industries' Eryn Devola for the Spring INSIGHT webinar “Shaping A More Sustainable And Profitable Future Through Digitalization and Automation.” Today, we preview that presentation with the vice president of sustainability, touching on how to marry sustainability and profitability and exploring new ways industrial data can inform smarter sustainable approaches. Take a look…
Smart Industry: Can sustainability and profitability really coexist in the modern manufacturing environment?
Eryn: Yes, they can and will—with the right mindset and toolset. Companies must adapt to sustainability as an additional business driver to remain competitive and profitable. There are many things businesses will need to track, from compliance to governmental requirements to the flow of capital toward sustainable investment to the shifts in customer and societal demands, and even resource scarcity. A practical example on how sustainability helps to support short-term profitability and incentivize adoption is that saving energy has a direct cost savings for operational costs while also reducing CO2 emissions to meet requirements.
Smart Industry: How does a sustainable strategy create opportunities? What opportunities are we talking about?
Eryn: A sustainable strategy helps to secure long-term viability for a business. More specifically, it helps to increase operational efficiency by maximizing the potential of the required inputs of material, costs, time and energy. Tap into new business models (e.g. from linear to circular and more service-oriented models) by more effectively communicating with the wider value chain on needs and capabilities. Expand into new markets through a greater understanding of the current business.
Smart Industry: What is one example of how data comes into play with developing a working sustainability strategy?
Eryn: Data transparency is the key to making smarter decisions toward sustainability, while making data accessible and actionable across the whole enterprise. We call this collective intelligence: a seamless flow of data from both the real and digital world along the entire value chain across the industrial-partner ecosystem. It also enables measurement of how sustainable your business is today and what choices will provide greater sustainability in the future. A key enabler is digital-twin technology, which provides the virtual environment and digital tools for creating and using the collective intelligence of the product and process.
