Wednesday april 12th 2023 tool place Green ex-machina – GEM23, the italian think tank dedicated to the green conversion of of manufacturing companies organized by Miraitek4.0 and MyChicJungle, to whom participated also the CEO of Ecosistem, Gianluca Orazio. The meeting took place in Milan, in the Banco BPM’s Sala delle Colonne, with the participation of entrepreneurs and managers of important Italian manufacturing companies. An entire morning where concrete facts and numbers demonstrated how digital technology is able to train sustainability in production processes, through the improvement of performance which, thanks to the collection and use of data, leads to an increase in the degree of sustainability and, therefore, to greater competitiveness on the market.
The meeting’s aim was to make companies participate in the great opportunities deriving from the application of digital technology: from optimizing resources to saving energy, from improving the quality of work to the sustainability of processes, all thanks to the use of tools digital that allows the synergistic implementation of different areas.
During the event, the steps necessary for innovation in the manufacturing industry were analysed from two points of view:
- that of producers of capital goods, with a focus on b2b, to understand what the future is for the manufacturing company;
- that of the users of capital goods, to explore how technology improves and makes the production cycle sustainable.
In general, it has been seen that the IoT is one of the technologies most used by companies, together with advanced automation, but fortunately, awareness among companies is constantly growing that digital is a necessary enabler for the sustainability of industrial processes.
One of the keywords of the meeting was blockchain and there was a long discussion on how its use promotes the permeation of the green in production, increasing the reliability and credibility of the products themselves. The blockchain is increasingly proving to be a shared and immutable register for recording transactions and monitoring assets, because it prevents the phenomenon of greenwashing and, consequently, certifies the sustainability of the production process.
The meeting opened with the presentation of the data processed by the Manufacturing Group of the School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic on “Digital And green – a concrete opportunity for the industrial sector” by Elisa Negri, Senior Assistant Professor of the Department of Management Engineering. The analysis found that 45% of the companies interviewed have already undertaken sustainability projects that affect operations, highlighting a growing sensitivity towards green issues. The most common drivers are the will to respond to the needs and trends of the market, especially for companies that make a large part of their turnover with exports: competitiveness also plays on the corporate sustainability strategy and the will to build an image of sustainable brands. The technologies most used to achieve the objectives are the IoT for 27% and advanced and collaborative automation for 29%, while the areas most impacted are the monitoring of operations consumption and the management of the product’s end of life. Among the most common obstacles emerge:
- – poor corporate culture;
- – lack of clarity on the expected benefits;
- – complexity of waste management laws;
- – lack of KPIs linking sustainability performance to corporate value.
Examples of tools to reduce these barriers can be the development of methodologies for quantifying environmental sustainability and quantifying the benefits related to the IoT and other technologies.
The second round table, on the other hand, focused on Sustainability, efficiency and technology: what future for the manufacturing company, and saw various managers of important manufacturing companies meet at the table as speakers, but also Luca Gazzo, General Manager of Camping Marina of Venice – one of the largest and most successful open-air camping village in Europe – bringing its experience in the tourism sector, which represents 13% of our GDP.
In conclusion, it emerged that there is a general understanding of the sheer importance of sustainability and deployment of related projects impacting operations. In the meantime, the most monitored KPIs are those relating to consumption in production processes, processing waste and emissions, health and safety of employees: the road is the right one, we must continue to follow it with perseverance and trust. The key messages of this Green&Digital process summarized as:
- There is a general understanding of the importance of sustainability and a considerable number of projects that has an impact on operations;
- The most common drivers are the willingness to respond to market needs and trends, the need to align operations with the corporate sustainability strategy and the willingness to build a sustainable image;
- The most used technologies are the IoT and advanced and collaborative automation;
- The areas most impacted by smart technologies for the sustainability of a product are the monitoring of the consumption of operations and the management of the product’s end of life.
«The presence of so many companies in the room – added Marco Taisch, co-founder of Miraitek – testifies to the widespread need to bring these issues to the ground and make them reachable, transforming the defensive attitude towards sustainability imposed into business opportunities. Today’s success confirms the desire to repeat this appointment annually».
«Today, companies’ awareness of the importance of creating a system has emerged several times – concluded Jacopo Moschini, co-founder of MyChicJungle – because the digital and sustainable transition passes through the supply chain and the cluster. Our intention was to give a message of future vision, placing the Green Ex-Machina project as a safe and clear reference for manufacturing companies in defining sustainability parameters across the sector. A laboratory of ideas, research and strategy at a national level, with the ultimate goal of establishing a relationship and comparison with the Italian industrial fabric on a global level. The success of the meeting tells us that we are on the right track».
April 14th 2023
