Operational efficiency Throughout their factory operations, food and beverage companies are employing technological innovations to drive down GHG emissions. The buzz words behind their efforts are reduced energy consumption, increased efficiency, and circularity. A first imperative for manufacturers is to cut out all excess energy use from their production plants. This means investing in modern equipment, sometimes incorporating artificial intelligence to ensure smooth running and avoid down-time, such as using sensors to tell operators when the kit needs cleaning. They are also looking to remove coal from their energy mix and replace it with greener, alternative sources like biomass, hydropower, wind and solar energy. Sometimes they can produce their own green energy on-site, for instance by installing solar panels on factor roofs, or building wastewater treatment plants that take a waste side stream from one part of operations and convert it into biomass to power another. And when they can't produce it themselves, some food companies are investing in energy suppliers to enable them to build and scale up renewable energy infrastructure, such as wind farms in locations whose energy needs are poorly served.
Reducing energy consumption One way to significantly reduce GHG emissions is to reduce energy consumption in factories. This means up-grading equipment to energy efficient models, ensuring that operations run at optimum efficiency, and reducing down-time — both planned and unplanned — to a minimum. New technologies have been introduced for production plants to be cleaned more quickly, thoroughly, in situ, and at the right moment to maintain productivity and avoid outages. A partnership between the University of Nottingham in the UK and equipment supplier Martec of Whitwell led to development of artificial intelligence sensors embedded in machinery, which inform operatives when a cleaning cycle is needed.50 In a similar vein, in 2018 Coca Cola Europe invested €900,000 in electro chemical activation cleaning at its plant in Ploiești, Romania, resulting in an annual reduction of 2,730 MWh in energy used and a 870 tonne reduction in carbon emissions — as well as savings of 18,000 m3 of water and 100 tonnes of chemicals each year. 51 Another way of reducing energy consumption is to use the waste outputs from one part of operations to power another. For instance, Unilever installed an anaerobic flotation reactor at its Ben & Jerry's factory in the Netherlands, using waste from ice cream production and wastewater from cleaning to create biogas, which is then used in the factory’s GreEnergy project for insulating water during the production process.52 A similar installation at Mars' factory in Veghel, the Netherlands, results in in a reduction of 25,4 TJ in energy consumption each year and 1.5 kton of carbon emissions.53
18 | L earn more about Fi Global CONNECT
