VDMA Offers Sustainable Solutions

German Machinists' Association offers environmental solutions in energy saving, materials and resources with BLUecoMPETENCE initiative

  01 June 2015 09:17 Monday
VDMA Offers Sustainable Solutions

German Machinists' Union - VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau), the umbrella organization of the German machine tool builder, one of the major machinery suppliers of Turkey, represents the share of over 40 percent of European investment goods industry with its 3,100 global members, 187 billion Euros of annual production and 75 percent export ratio. VDMA, which has been working with firms developing technologies in such sectors as spinning, nonwovens, weaving, knitting, hosiery and finishing for 125 years, represents 90 percent of German manufacturers and it is one of the most significant textile organizations in Europe.

BLUecoMPETENCE

The environmental awareness and sustainability concepts, which gain importance day by day, stood out in recent years, but the sustainability is not a new concept in the German textile machinery production. Playing an important role for the future of textile technology, VDMA conducts studies and projects for sustainable production with BLUecoMPETENCE initiative.

BLUecoMPETENCE does not only offer environmental solutions in such fields as energy efficiency, materials and resources, but also this initiative tries to bring awareness to the manufacturers about protecting the resources and using them more efficiently. BLUecoMPETENCE, which offers permanent solutions for all the industrial applications in machinery and plant production, has signed a new project and started to conduct works on energy efficiency. According to these studies, 15 % of increase volume in productivity and 10 % of energy savings will be raised with new project and it will be reached at 20 %.

Textile Machinery Is Not Consumer Goods

According to the study conducted by VDMA about the increase of energy efficiency and production efficiency, it is stated that the textile machinery can be easily classified in efficiency classes as in the consumer goods industry. One of the most striking details of the study is that a textile machine can be easily compared in terms of standardised use purposes, but it is not a consumer product designed for user requirements.

The report says that the textile machines are usually designed in order to meet different needs of the sector. The needs are different depending on product to be manufactured as well as specific processes. Therefore, the textile machines are usually manufactured depending on the specific requirements because the machine can be easily adjusted according to the needs about the quality, raw material and productivity. The decisions made by the company directly affect the specific energy use.

The report also says that the innovative technology does not only provide the optimization of the production processes, but also it must decrease all the negative effects on the environment. Therefore, focusing on energy consumption is a critical issue in textile sector.

Energy Needs are Different in Production Processes

The rates of electrical energy and thermal energy needs are very different from each other in every process of the textile production chain. There are a lot of a large number of heterogeneous main factors, which affect the energy efficiency on textile machine and textile processes. All the factors such as machine operator, requirements about textile product, material, fibre supplier and machine manufacturers effect the energy efficiency. Therefore, it is not possible to draw a conclusion about real energy efficiency and productivity of the machine running with electrical energy. The precondition for the assessment of energy efficiency is to know the amount of energy used. Moreover, it would not be sufficient to identify the real energy need to be used for electricity, intake air, compressed air and process temperature with measuring devices.

Working Process

The energy consumption of machine can be only determined based on the operating points and clear working processes. Therefore, the comments made about the energy consumption are considered only for the specified processes and parameters. For machines or processes, the assessment on reliable and comparable energy consumption values can be made only with specified balance sheet borders and reference values. It is necessary to create a logical machine class in order to assess the energy consumption of textile machines. Then, it is necessary to specify a common "energy efficiency process" based on the product and production parameters of typical manufacturing processes for these machine classes.

Carbon Footprint

In terms of ecology, the highest carbon footprint rate is seen during the operation of the textile machine. Specifying a reliable carbon footprint ratio during the operating phase is only possible if the operator has detailed information about the electricity generation and thermal power generation. The same situation is considered for the cross-sectional technologies such as compressed air production, heat generation, air conditioning and lighting, which are needed in the textile industry and represent a significant portion of the energy consumption.

Machine Operation

The textile machines having energy efficiency properties are needed for energy saving. In a complex textile process, using the machine according to the guidelines guarantees the targeted energy savings. The fact that the connection between production settings and energy consumption is clearer helps to optimize the process. The right decisions can be made by considering ecological factors and a business policy based on life cycle cost in investments. Spare parts affects the energy efficiency. The selection of spare parts and maintenance intervals can significantly affect the energy productivity. Inadequate maintenance of textile machines or use of poor quality wear parts reduces efficiency and increases energy consumption.


COMMENTS
Dear guest; without being a member Comments on "guests" are referred to as. Comments, you use a special name and picture, menu access a member of your reviews, comments, and to check the answers to their members to take advantage of many more features that register!
What is your comment about this story?
1000 - characters left.