Token nods towards being more environmentally-friendly are no longer enough. Speaking ahead of the Manufacturing 2075 symposium which took place on 4 December 2019, Mark Jolly commented said that while predicting the future of manufacturing and backing specific technologies is risky – the one thing we can be certain of is the need for sustainability. Investors, shareholders, partners, clients and consumers are demanding real change in business models. The Governor of the Bank of England has predicted that bankruptcy is a likely outcome for companies and industries who don’t show they are working towards a net-zero status, because they will be punished by investors for their lack of action. Furthermore, the ever-increasing awareness of the urgent need to address issues of the environment and climate change means that the customers and employees of the future simply won’t allow manufacturing to continue on as a “fossil fuels-type industry” – as Professor Jolly puts it, “the producer of stuff no matter the cost”.
Manufacturing needs to take a practical, full-picture approach to sustainability
Manufacturing needs to ensure that it is a part of this new, sustainable world and take a practical, operational approach to improving sustainability if it wants to avoid being “written off as a dinosaur”. According to Professor Jolly, this means looking at the full picture – not just the use phase of products and how they can be recycled, but also considering the impact of their production: sourcing sustainable materials, reducing energy use and accounting for the environmental cost of manufacture. We also need to consider the potential impact that new green technologies themselves could have if a full-picture approach isn’t taken: wind turbines and solar panels, for example, will eventually reach the end of their use phase and we need to consider how we can replace them sustainably and re-use components to minimise waste.
This need for a circular, full-picture approach was echoed by Professor Richard Herrington, Head of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum, prior to the symposium as he called for every part of the supply chain – from design, to the mining and metals industries, suppliers and manufacturers looking at end-of-life-stage products – to be talking to each other to make a genuinely sustainable cycle. Switching to sustainable alternatives is essential, but it needs to be informed by knowledge of the implications at every stage. Meeting a particular sustainability target without considering the wider impact of doing so is an issue. For example, Professor Herrington cites work the Natural History Museum is carrying out which looks at the issues that may occur with the transition to electric vehicles – meeting the UK electric car targets for 2050 would require using almost double the world’s entire annual cobalt production and a 20% increase in UK-generated electricity. A resounding theme when it comes to sustainability – highlighted at the Aviation and the Environment conference and by recent research into the impact of our dietary choices - is that we need to be wary of solving one problem while causing another elsewhere.
Bridging the disconnect in the commodities market
We need to have a stronger grasp of the balance of issues, in order to start implementing what works. With this in mind, Professor Herrington suggests that the most important area for the sector to focus on will be the way it works with the providers of commodities in the future – calling for more collaboration to bridge the disconnect in the market. The issue now - and in the future - may not be running out of a particular raw material, but that the commodity is not available in the form actually needed by developing technologies. This means that manufacturers need to look to improve the diversity of forms of material and their supplies to avoid squeezes on supply. Ultimately, to become a part of the circular economy, manufacturers need to reduce their reliance on what can be dug from the ground and increase re-use and re-purposing.
A clear call for cross-industry collaboration
A resounding theme across the discussions on sustainability, is the call for cross-industry collaboration. Many of the speakers at the Aviation and the Environment conference called for industries to work together across the supply chain to address how air travel can reduce its emissions – from manufacturing and maintenance of components, to ground operations and the flights themselves. Professor Krzysztof Koziol, Professor of Composites Engineering and Head of the Enhanced Composites and Structures Centre at Cranfield, outlines a project currently being carried out by the Centre which seeks to push the boundaries in the area of new generation conductors, which could reduce the weight of aircraft: “We are making carbon Nano-tubes and turning them into wires, the idea is to replace copper or aluminium conductors that are not necessarily performing that well, we also want to reduce the weight. To give you an idea, a Boeing 747 carries about 5 tonnes of copper as a conductor on board, and we think we can drop it to 0.5 tonnes.” The weight of an aircraft plays a part in its overall fuel efficiency, therefore making planes lighter can help to reduce fuel emissions.
The centre has also been working with other industries such as the automotive industry - looking into volume composite manufacturing at low cost and using recycled materials, and the construction industry – working with partners to look at the use of sustainable materials in rapid housing development to reduce the cost of building while also ensuring the houses are more efficient.
From a materials supply perspective, Professor Koziol lists sustainability and the security of supply as one of the biggest challenges faced by manufacturing: “Industry is really actively now looking into materials that not only perform, but ones that are also sustainable. It is a constant challenge for industry to find new, sustainable materials.”
While we may not be able to predict the future of manufacturing, the call for sustainability is clear – meaning timely and tailored practical solutions are required. Manufacturing 2075 is an annual one-day symposium which seeks to “imagine the future to plan the present”, addressing the long-term challenges manufacturing may face in the future to help shape current research and priorities. Previous years’ themes have included digital engineering and materials future. A post-symposium report for 2019 – which focused on sustainability and circular economy – will soon be made available. In the meantime, presentations from previous years can be downloaded here.
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