The UK manufacturing sector is undergoing a significant shift towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050. However, the sector is also facing a number of challenges on this journey.
- Energy transformation: Manufacturing organisations consume a lot of energy and the challenges they face around implementing energy efficient practices throughout production lines requires substantial investment and infrastructure upgrades.
- Process innovation: Traditional manufacturing processes often rely on high-carbon technologies. Developing and adopting cleaner versions and finding sustainable alternative materials are critical for significant emission reductions.
- Supply chain integration: A manufacturer’s carbon footprint extends beyond its own operations. Collaborating with suppliers to ensure a sustainable supply chain adds complexity but is essential for achieving true net zero.
The Made Smarter Innovation initiative is boosting the UK manufacturing sector’s journey towards net zero through advanced digital tools and technologies to help solve the problem. Through funding and support, organisations are driving change and impacts are being made.
SupplyVue: supply chain optimisation
One company who is tackling supply chain challenges is SupplyVue. SupplyVue has developed a business to business SaaS solution that uses algorithms and mathematics to streamline and demystify the supply chain handoffs, typically around the dynamics of optimum production speed (leading to lowest inventory), lowest cost or energy use (carbon optimisation).
Through £784,811 of Made Smarter Innovation funding and wider support, SupplyVue has created a sophisticated and responsive planning tool that integrates carbon emission management into a holistically optimised supply chain.
Matta: data driven decision making for 3D printing
Advanced manufacturing is a £220bn industry with a huge problem: more than 20% of every pound spent is wasted on inefficiencies like scrap and downtime. Receiving £66,000 of R&D funding from Made Smarter Innovation, Cambridge spin-out Matta has built, along with project partners Batch.Works and Plus X Innovation, the technology to power an AI-driven 3D printing factory network across the UK.
The start-up has leveraged five years of cutting-edge research to develop AI co-pilots that mirror and even surpass the best human operators at scale. These co-pilots are trained to understand how parts are made, and then used to autonomously monitor and control machines. This results in a significant reduction in material waste and energy consumption by identifying and rectifying errors before they occur.
Ultimately, Matta are seeking to optimise the entire design-engineer-build workflow with AI, leading to reduced waste and improved efficiency across the board and opening the door to materials and geometries previously thought impossible.
AI and machine learning solutions transforming the steel industry
Steel is one of the most commonly manufactured materials in the world, contributing approximately eight per cent of global CO2 emissions. Steel is ruinously un-eco-friendly; the IEA estimates that direct CO2 emissions due to crude steel production are approximately 1.4 tonnes per tonne steel produced. AI business Deep Meta are on a mission to help make the steel industry production processes more sustainable using data and predictive machine learning.
With £442,540 of Made Smarter Innovation funding, Deep Meta has built a scalable machine learning platform which can ‘tangibly impact the sustainability of steel production through real-time insights.’ A plug and play platform that extracts data from all parts of the molten steel production and rolling mill process. The AI weighs it all up and then informs where improvements can be made to that process to drive energy efficiency resulting in substantially reduced CO2 emissions per tonne of steel.
The Made Smarter Innovation Sustainability Accelerator (MSISA) has been created to accelerate the development and implementation of new technologies focused on sustainability in manufacturing. MSISA connects manufacturers with technology companies that can provide them with the specific tools and expertise needed to achieve their net zero goals.
Achieving net zero presents a significant challenge for UK manufacturing, but it also harbours immense opportunity. By embracing innovation, collaboration, digital technologies and government support, the sector can transform itself, become a global leader in sustainable production, and contribute to a greener future.
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