Sustainable Technologies for Thick Metal Plate Welding

Abstract

Due to the increased economic and environmental concerns, a systematic consideration of energy and resource consumption is of increasing importance in manufacturing. A realistic and goal-driven analysis and derivation of efficiency potentials demands a holistic system perspective in order to balance conflicting goals and/or to avoid problem shifting. This involves an extended process understanding with all relevant input and output flows and their realistic consumption/emission behavior as well as the necessary consideration of interactions with technical building services. In the field of energy and resource efficiency diverse fields of action need to be distinguished. This could be achieved based on single or continuous data measuring, modeling of energy and resource flows and their interactions as well as appropriate methods for evaluating and predicting machine behaviors. The ultimate objective is to integrate energy and resource oriented variables with the traditional performance indicators (e.g. cost, quality and time) into the decision system of manufacturing companies. Measures on process and machine level are the first important steps for increasing energy efficiency. However, the consumption of energy and resources and the associated emission of technical equipments are not static but depending on the specific state of operation. On a factory level – which includes coupled interaction of consumers and emitters - individual consumption and emission profiles of processes and process chains lead to certain cumulative profiles for the system as a whole. Thus, in-depth investigation of these consumption and emission profiles on a factory level leads to additional potentials for improving energy efficiency. Due to the dynamic interdependencies within the system, there is a strong demand for a generic energy flow oriented manufacturing simulation environment which would contribute towards improving energy efficiency in manufacturing. The work of Dr. Thiede directly addresses this important topic. With this published work as well as with his active and on-going role, Mr. Thiede has strongly contributed to the development of the Joint German-Australian Research Group “Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Management” (www.sustainable-manufacturing.com). We are looking forward to continuing our work with Dr. Thiede in future.