Sustainability in the Industrial Sector: A Driver for Product Innovation

Disclaimer: This article is published in partnership with Siemens. Siemens is paying for my engagement, not for promotional purpose. Opinions are my own.

In the face of increasing environmental challenges and societal expectations, sustainability has become a critical focus across all industries. The industrial sector is under intense scrutiny due to its significant environmental impact, including high levels of energy consumption, waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, companies are increasingly motivated to adopt sustainable practices, not just to comply with regulations, but also to gain a competitive edge. There are strong arguments why sustainability is becoming a business imperative:

• ?80% of a product's environmental impact is determined in the design phase. (Source: Allen Macarthur)
• 90 million tons CO? emissions can be saved each year by reducing just 1% of industrial production carbon footprint. (Source: IEA)
• Supply chains account for more than 90% of an organization’s greenhouse gas emissions (Source: EY)

The push for sustainability in the industrial context is driven by a multitude of factors. Regulatory bodies worldwide are tightening emissions standards and promoting resource efficiency, while consumers and investors are increasingly favoring companies that demonstrate environmental responsibility. Furthermore, there is a growing recognition that sustainability can serve as a powerful catalyst for innovation . By integrating sustainable practices into their operations, companies can unlock new opportunities for growth, improve their market positioning, and future-proof their business against emerging environmental risks. Siemens is leading the charge with strong commitments towards net zero. More than 90% of the company's business enables a positive impact and sustainability has been embedded in its products and customer offerings, as much as in its own operations.

Ecodesign: Enhancing Sustainability, Cost Optimization, and Competitive Advantage

Ecodesign is a crucial concept within the broader sustainability agenda. It involves designing products with a focus on minimizing their environmental impact throughout their entire lifecycle, from raw material extraction to disposal, by harnessing digitalization and simulation. Case in point: digital twins of real-life products can simulate the repairability or robustness of a product without wasting real-life resources. Sustainable product design is key to transitioning from a linear to a circular economy. In 2020, Siemens introduced Robust Eco Design (RED) , a dedicated, holistic approach to its development processes. However, the benefits of Ecodesign extend far beyond environmental protection. This approach also offers significant economic advantages. By incorporating central principles, Siemens can achieve substantial cost savings through resource efficiency, reduced material usage, and lower energy consumption. For instance, products designed with fewer materials or with recycled content often require less energy to manufacture, leading to lower production costs. Additionally, such products are often more energy-efficient in use, which can reduce operating costs for customers and increase the product's market appeal.

Moreover, RED can be a key differentiator in the marketplace. As customers become more environmentally conscious, they are increasingly seeking out products that align with their values. Siemens paves the way for positioning itself as sustainability pioneer by implementing sustainability in the lifecycle of its products and making environmental footprints transparent, thereby gaining a competitive advantage, enhancing brand reputation and opening up new revenue streams. Last but not least, adopting Ecodesign can help mitigate risks associated with environmental regulations. By proactively reducing the environmental footprint of its products, Siemens can avoid potential penalties and ensure compliance with current and future regulations. This strategic foresight can also enhance long-term business resilience by preparing for shifts in regulatory landscapes.

Siemens EcoTech: A New Performance Label for Sustainable Products

In alignment with its RED approach and overall sustainability strategy, the company has introduced Siemens EcoTech , a new performance label that signifies the company’s dedication to producing more environmentally responsible products. Cedric Bardenhagen , Head of Sustainability Program Management at Siemens Motion Control, points out: The label gives you transparency on the performance of our certified products across environmentally relevant criteria, enabling you to make informed choices to support your sustainability goals.

The evaluation framework provides a comprehensive set of stringent sustainability criteria that reflect the company’s strong commitment to scale sustainability impact, creates trust through easy-to-understand data and may also drive innovation (see graphic below). Therefore, EcoTech incentivizes the advancement of existing products and can be used as a basis for the development of new products.

Products have to meet mandatory requirements, such as providing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) , compliance with current substance of concern regulations and being manufactured in Siemens production facilities using 100% renewable electricity. On top, they must fulfill at least one criteria in each of three different lifecycle dimensions:

?Sustainable materials

• Low carbon?material: Improved selection and purchasing of low carbon products, components, parts, and materials.
• Secondary materials: Higher quantity of material reprocessed from recovered material through a recycling process from pre-consumer and/or post-consumer waste.
• Minimum material use: Reduction of ?quantity of primary raw and secondary recycled materials used in a product or part with consideration for applicable technologies.
• Packaging: Any materials that are intended to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery or presentation of products. Sustainable packaging focuses on the life cycle of such materials and considers environmental aspects.
• Substances of Concern: Substances of Concern (SoC) with certain hazardous properties can be of concern for human health and/or the environment and/or have a measurable negative effect on the products’ sustainability. Within Siemens, SoCs are maintained in the List of Declarable Substances (LoDS).

Optimal use

• Energy efficiency: Optimization of product-specific ratio or other quantitative relationship between an output of the performance of products and an input of energy in the use phase.
• Durability/Longevity: Improved ability to function as required.
• Updatability/Maintenance possible: Range of technical and administrative measures as well as management measures that are intended to ensure the preservation of technical objects or restore their functionality. For certain products availability of software and firmware support, including updates can be important to consider.

Value recovery and circularity

• Repairability: Improved process of returning a faulty product or waste to a condition where it can fulfill its intended use.
• Upgradability: Process of enhancing the functionality, performance, or capacity of a product.
• Recyclability: Ability of component parts, materials, or both to be separated and reprocessed from products and systems and subsequently used as material input for the same or different use or function.
• Ease of Disassembling: Product circularity instruction indicating the ability of a product to be disassembled.
• Take-back scheme: Process of returning product after end of use-phase for further modification within Siemens.

An EcoTech criterion is considered to be ‘fulfilled’ for a product if it is rated better compared to the predecessor product, an existing norm or an established competitive standard on the market. – Cedric Bardenhagen, Head of Sustainability Program Management at Siemens Motion Control

To ensure maximum transparency, customers can access a Siemens EcoTech Profile (SEP) for all evaluated products. It is a Siemens-created, standardized product data sheet which gives insight about the product performance in environmentally relevant criteria as well as about interpretation and comparison of data against an existing norm, standard or predecessor product.

Examples of Siemens EcoTech Product Profiles

Siemens has embedded these criteria across its broader portfolio , demonstrating the company’s commitment to sustainable design and development. In the following, we take a closer look at two examples of such products from different business segments, which highlight the practical relevance of Siemens EcoTech principles:

SINAMICS G220

The SINAMICS G220 is a new high-performance variable frequency drive designed to meet current and future challenges in every industry. Thanks to improved hardware and software, SINAMICS G220 makes applications more efficient, secure and future-proof. The drive system is equipped with an integrated web server, which enables an efficient setup, fast diagnostics, and easy maintenance from multiple smart devices.

The following profile overview highlights how the EcoTech criteria have been evaluated for the design of the SINAMICS G220:

The SINAMICS G220 stands out, for example, through a sustainable packaging concept that increases robustness and reduces use of cardboard, a high resilience against vibrations and a modular design and extended service offering ensuring maximum repair capabilities.

The product’s official SEP document can be accessed here .

The Siemens EcoTech Profile (SEP), which documents and transparently highlights the evaluation of sustainability criteria for the broad Siemens portfolio, is currently a unique selling proposition on the market. – Cedric Bardenhagen, Head of Sustainability Program Management at Siemens Motion Control

SENTRON ECPD

The SENTRON ECPD (Electronic Circuit Protection Device) is one of the first of its kind combining the benefits of electronic switching with already known mechanical components (i.e., for disconnection in case of maintenance) and adding a big portion of intelligence. Its features include ultra-fast switching, flexible parameterization, and a wide range of functions. The smart circuit protection device simplifies electrical planning, helps to save resources, within the product, but also in the overall application, and optimally supports power distribution system operation. It is also a prime example of the responsible use of raw materials. It requires 80% fewer electronics, 90% less metal, and offers an impressive 60% lower power loss compared to predecessor products.

The following profile overview highlights how the EcoTech criteria have been evaluated for the design of the SENTRON ECPD:

Among other criteria, the SENTRON ECPD particularly scores with significant material, resource, and power consumption savings due to incorporation of multiple functionalities and features in one single device.

The product’s official SEP document can be accessed here .

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Takeaway

As the industrial landscape evolves under the pressures of environmental sustainability and regulatory mandates, embracing a sustainable design strategy emerges not merely as a compliance strategy but as a driver of green business innovation and market leadership. Siemens' integration of robust Ecodesign criteria is geared towards embedding sustainability deeply within product lifecycles - ranging from raw material sourcing to end-of-life recyclability. The strategic adoption of Siemens EcoTech principles is proving to be a critical enabler for Siemens, allowing the company to make sustainability efforts transparent, cater to eco-conscious customers, and forge future-proof product designs. This approach not only garners competitive advantages, but also fortifies Siemens' commitment to reducing environmental impacts, thereby setting a benchmark in sustainable industrial practices.

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