Reducing the environmental footprint through Big Data
Henkel has developed a straightforward yet ambitious goal for the year 2030: The company plans to triple its efficiency by 2030, that means tripling the value that is created through business activities in relation to the environmental footprint. One key leverage to reduce emissions is the production. Thus, Henkel wants to reduce the carbon footprint of its nearly 190 production sites worldwide by 75 per cent. Therefore, a good pool of data is required. This is where digitalization and sustainability meet.
By using cutting-edge software technology, the energy consumption of the Henkel production sites can be captured exactly.
To reach the ambitious energy goals, Henkel has introduced an “Environmental Management System” (EMS). Due to cutting-edge software technology, we can now capture the energy consumption of our production sites exactly. While doing so, the business unit Laundry & Home Care is working together with the technology experts of Schneider Electric. In cooperation with the technology partner, Henkel developed a solution for the entire global production network: Since 2014, thousands of measurement points have been constantly integrated into the company’s system. Counting more than 3,000 points today, the measurements capture data on electricity, fossil fuels, compressed air, steam, water, and sewage.
The result speaks for itself: Consumption data can now be captured and used in a better, more exact and well-structured way – worldwide and in real-time. Equally important: By centrally reporting indicators, comparisons can be drawn and “Best Practices” can be shared among all production sites. “We successfully made data on our energy consumption available to all supply chain managers,” says Dr. Dirk Holbach, Senior Vice President Global Supply Chain Laundry & Home Care at Henkel. “This is an enormous step forward.” By doing so, Henkel made clear progress in reaching its sustainability targets. The business unit Laundry & Home Care could reach a reduction of 24 per cent in energy consumption. 9 per cent of these savings are only due to the new system. But not only the energy consumption could be reduced: 15 Million Euros of energy costs could be saved. Further optimizations are in prospect.
