Introduction

Thus far, the roadmap suggests a route that focuses on reducing the operating costs that affect gross margin. The remainder of the route follows that same plan. Manufacturing has financial risks.

Scale shapes an opportunity. The path toward digital automation (also known as Industry 4.0) begins at even the smallest scale. The steps taken to eliminate leaks and process inefficiencies, integrate measuring devices and digitize a facility methodically minimize the variables that can become non-productive outputs (solid waste, emissions, heat loss and wastewater). Along the way, there are opportunities to isolate by-products for further use or separate materials for lower cost management. Within an organization, performance is enabled by the combination of measurement skills and measurement technology.

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), Canada’s advanced manufacturing supercluster (funded by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) funds advanced manufacturing technology capabilities and Industry 4.0. Lessons learned from this program point to the roadmap suggested in this document. What advanced manufacturers call failure modes are rooted in the variables highlighted in this guide.

Importance of data in circular recovery

Data is the currency of measurement. The same data that takes weeks and months to manually compile can be made available with a keystroke. Data points to opportunities that require investigation and analysis. Analysis of data requires insight from experienced labour, skilled trades, technicians and management. That analysis will only prove useful when the equipment and technology that feeds the data runs optimally. Otherwise, data will be corrupted with problems caused in one system which, in turn, could cause problems in successive systems or equipment. Clean, reliable data allows good decisions to be made on future equipment and machinery purchases.

Data also drives machines. It is how computerized equipment speaks. Digital readouts and graphic dashboards have replaced mechanical gauges and manual controls. The information contained in a digital system can be designed to be more exact. Like variable controls used in an experiment, the data can then focus on the results. In a factory, the results are all about the inputs into a process relative to the proportion of salable outputs that emerge and the operating condition of that process.

At this point, measuring or identifying the financial and environmental opportunities for circular technology investments such as heat recovery, green energy generation and the fractionation of wastes to make high value products, is de-risked. It is possible to engineer circular systems and ignore the roadmap. Consulting engineers and vendors welcome the sale of their services and products. But a manufacturer is likely to embed costly variables within their processes or abandon a process that will not run as cost effectively as expected. Technology that performs at or near its minimal operating range will not fix itself. It is more likely that over time, any machine-based process will degrade. That is a significant problem when it strands the capital invested.

There are several opportunities that become easier to identify at this point in the journey, including:

  • measurement of unproductive energy loads and modelling of retrofits or replacement equipment
  • replacement of refrigeration equipment with low global warming potential refrigerants
  • heat recovery analysis (This is a precursor to a process integration study. With the tools and skills in place, it is possible to isolate and estimate heat recovery potential and scope equipment. A professional process integration study then confirms that such a project is de-risked.)
  • co-product upscaling potential versus highest value recovery of co-products for use by another party
  • measuring the unintended consequences of retrofits
  • modelling climate change impacts of operations
  • modelling and planning new production lines and new facilities

Successful food processing facilities reach the endpoint of their roadmap when they make a profit on production with the lowest possible impact on the environment. At that point, in grow and expand your business, the next step is to return to the starting point of your journey and begin again, having learned the lessons that come with managing variance.