OPINIONS FROM ACROSS THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY Managing and complying with sustainability standards

Sustainability is widely considered across industry. However, it is critical to purposefully understand what sustainability means for asset-intensive industries, including how to manage and comply with emerging sustainability standards. Opinion

by Mike Brooks, Global Director, APM Solutions, Aspen Technology, Inc.

Sustainability is defined in several ways including Oxford Languages (via Google) expressing it as the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level; including avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. The Cambridge dictionary defines sustainability as the quality of being able to continue over a period of time; with the follow on, the quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time. Finally, the American Heritage dictionary explains sustainability as being capable of being sustained; followed by capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment.

The initial statements in Google and Cambridge each represent maintaining a process, wherein American heritage is a little more ambiguous. Each follow on item in all definitions reflects minimal disturbances on the environment including depletion of natural resources. However, there are insufficient definitions to apply the appropriate context for industry sustainability.

How have such concepts been adopted and distributed in industry?

In industry we dig a little deeper and expand the context of sustainability by defining at least three core pillars of sustainability, namely “economic, environmental, and social — also known informally as the: profits, planet, and people” – the three Ps. This brings in a third concept not mentioned in the foregoing dictionary definitions –the idea of not introducing social harm to people inside and outside of the company. Furthermore, some companies include a fourth sustainability pillar to track compliance with government regulations. In summary, we want to maintain the manufacturing process to make the profits, while not breaking the law, and supporting the continuing health of people and the environment. Consequently, we see manufacturing businesses implementing initiatives to actively reduce their environmental footprint, often described as green initiatives, while increasing their social responsibilities by eliminating practices that may disturb or harm people and to be sensitive to compliance issues.

Managing sustainability issues

Managing sustainability is hard. You can track relevant indicators such as energy consumption, waste, emissions in air and water releases, even labor standards, and safety records, build KPIs, place them in a dashboard to check how well you are performing.

As Peter Drucker, management consultant said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” A good first step, but you run the danger of all dashboards and few improvement activities. After all, the results are only lagging indicators and contain nothing proactive to control and manage sustainability. It’s a fallacy to believe that automated management and control of sustainability can come from computer applications. Sure, computer applications can watch and optimise energy usage but how about emissions, safety performance, and social behaviour?

Sustainability management and improvement is all about fashioning people’s behaviour to engage in activities and work processes likely to improve practices. And to do so people need to buy into the idea that sustainability has a major impact on corporate reputation, branding, and shareholder value in order to shape their behaviour in their day-to-day work processes. So, in the spirit of this article this begs a question.

How can Asset Performance Management (APM) applications assist sustainability?

We are not aware of tools that directly manage anything but the rate of production and perhaps energy consumption. You cannot use an application to reduce environmental impact or improve impact on people’s welfare. In one respect, sustainability effectiveness in APM applications is most often driven by recognition of and avoidance of the conditions and events that can cause disturbances in profits, the environment, and people safety.

The idea is that the application recognises an errant condition that can affect sustainability and issues alerts and potentially prescriptive advice for people to take action to avoid the issue. Alternatively, applications can simulate alternative operating scenarios to enable decisions to adjust conditions in design and operation for better performance. In all cases, it’s shaping the workers’ behaviour that is key.

For example, in recent years there has been a transformation in condition-based monitoring applications using new technologies of pattern recognition using machine learning. Such applications are capable of recognising patterns of behaviour that are abnormal and destructive well in advance of impending degradation and potentially disastrous situations; those conditions that can cause unexpected breakdowns, environmental emissions, and harm to people. Sudden emergency shutdowns often induce rushed and illconsidered decisions and actions that present unwanted danger and environmental releases. The APM application’s early alert capability provides the heads up to stimulate action to avoid the emergency unexpected shutdown. For example, in a chemical processing facility a 40-day warning of an imminent failure of a compressor allows the staff the time to plan and prepare to convert to a safe, orderly, managed shutdown that is unlikely to lift flare valves or safety valves, prevent release of toxins, and assure safe procedures avoiding harm to workers. All supporting sustainability improvements.

In summary, given the economic, environmental, compliance, and social pillars of sustainability in industry, APM applications provide insights into causes and guidance on what to do and what work processes to engage in order to support and improve sustainability. aspentech.com/en