Produce emissions-neutral and waste-free in the city

With a total of 1.5 million euros, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for the Environment has been funding the project "Ultra-Efficiency Factory in an Urban Environment" of the Fraunhofer Institutes IPA, IAO, and IGB* since early 2014. The theoretical foundation has already been established; now the project is entering a second phase and practical application. The Fraunhofer Institutes are now seeking industrial companies to validate the "Ultra-Efficiency Factory" and implement the research results in practice. The developed concept envisions an urban, largely waste-free, emission-neutral factory that completely decouples resource consumption from value creation and offers added value for the local community.

The rapid global population growth, the finiteness of resources, and increasing urbanization demand a paradigm shift towards sustainable economics through the decoupling of growth and resource consumption. New measures of effectiveness and efficiency, combined with "gentle production," are required for this.

"The goal of ultra-efficient factories is to design the use of materials, energy, personnel, and capital in such a way that efficient and effective value creation processes are established, eliminating waste, exhaust air, and wastewater, thereby maximizing the utilization rate of the employed production factors," summarizes Environment Minister Franz Untersteller. Ideally, one hundred percent of the materials used and the energy expended land in the product. Partial solutions already exist, but a comprehensive approach is still missing. The concept of the Ultra-Efficiency Factory is based on the premise of the "Green Economy." It reevaluates the technologies previously used and introduces technological innovations.

Goals of the Ultra-Efficiency Factory are:
• the optimal use of resources,
• the use of better-suited materials to the minimal necessary extent,
• the extensive avoidance of emissions and waste,
• connecting the "Right with the Right," i.e., effectiveness rather than mere efficiency

Searching for Pilot Companies

For the further implementation of this approach, manufacturing companies in urban environments are now invited to face the challenge of the "Ultra-Efficiency Factory in an Urban Environment." After a comprehensive evaluation of the current state, a framework for design, along with fields of action and measures for individual processes and production lines, can be proposed to the companies. All production factors are considered, including organization, personnel, planning, etc. A so-called "maturity model" describes the current approximation of a company to the ideal state of "Ultra-Efficiency" and helps the pilot company identify critical areas for improvement.

"We have completed the development of the maturity model and defined criteria for exemplary ultra-efficient production and the target state. All these criteria have been applied and tested on a fictional example company. Now, we will approach real companies and look forward to hearing from interested firms," says project manager Dr. Siegfried Stender from Fraunhofer IPA.

The advantage? By using efficiency technologies, not only do companies recoup their investments faster, but the necessary return on investment for acquiring effectiveness technologies can also be shortened.

The practice-oriented project approach, involving companies through workshops and expert discussions, combined with the scientifically grounded methods of the involved research institutes, ensures broad transferability, dissemination, and adaptability of the results tailored to the specific needs of the target group. The developed procedures, models, and tools make a crucial contribution to developing and implementing successful corporate growth strategies—decoupled from resource consumption and without impairing, possibly even adding value for, the population.

* Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation IPA
* Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
* Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB