A new whitepaper released bv Rockwell Automation outlines how operational software can help achieve manufacturers’ energy and sustainability goals.
The paper, “Manufacturing Executions Systems for Sustainability: Extending the Scope of MES to Achieve Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Goals,” was presented at the IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications in Xi’an, China this week.
“Information solutions often focus on achieving production management benefits,” said Jeffrey Soplop, a Rockwell project manager and one of the paper’s authors, in a statement. “However, as this paper illustrates, these solutions can be used to implement sustainable production to help reduce energy and raw material use, drive emissions monitoring and environmental reporting, and improve worker and product safety.”
The paper emphasizes that the business case for sustainability begins with a holistic approach to manufacturing, incorporating the principles of environmental stewardship, corporate responsibility, and economic prosperity — tenets of a core sustainability concept known as the triple bottom line.