Sustainable Innovation: Unfolding digital solutions for Bornholm's manufacturing sector!
Inspiration day featuring a presentation of innovative and green experiences from two of the island's businesses.
In the National Centre for Green Energy project, Baltic Energy Island, which is supported by the Danish Board of Business Development with EU funds, we have just completed an exciting innovation journey focusing on exploiting the optimisation potential of Bornholm's manufacturing companies through groundbreaking technological advances.
Digital mapping
Earlier in the year we sought two manufacturing companies from Bornholm that were eager to take part in a digital mapping experience, and we were thrilled to select HASLE Refractories and Bornholmerslagteren as our cases. With expert guidance from NIRAS, these companies' production processes were carefully mapped to explore opportunities for optimisation through the integration of digital tools and technologies.
Potential benefits
Based on the comprehensive reports, an open innovation workshop was held on 31 May 2023 with enthusiastic participation from numerous local businesses. The primary aim was to delve into the potential economic and environmental benefits that the proposed solutions could bring. The workshop also aimed to inspire participants by providing insights into emerging digital trends, both nationally and globally, with a strong focus on sustainability.
Results and lessons learned
The participating companies could draw inspiration from the results of the two case companies and learn best practice within the use of digital technologies in production; for example, knowledge was presented on digital tools for continuous green improvement, overview via a digital twin for production optimisation, and automatic energy and production overview.
The companies' initiatives
The two case companies briefly described the processes, ideas and initiatives that the process had given them. Among other things, the companies had worked on initiatives for a more visible sustainability profile, unmanned night operations, greater cooling capacity with a view to automating packing, and the implementation of a production and energy management system.
”At HASLE Refractories, we have greatly benefited from the process with NIRAS and BCB, through which we have received operational and concrete input for our production. For some years, we have been working on the green transition and sustainability, but during the process we acquired some strategic tools to work even further with this important area—both in terms of communication and operationally with concrete initiatives, both at management level and in our production. Through a mapping exercise of the production and identification of bottlenecks, our eyes were opened to new digitalisation and automation opportunities accompanied by constructive and informative dialogue throughout the process. Concrete proposals were subsequently drawn up, which we will now work further on investigating, such as an energy management system (EMS) and automation of our crushing plant for unmanned night operation in order to increase the plant's daily capacity and the possibility of shifting some of our power consumption to cheaper hours.
”In collaboration with BCB and Niras, Bornholmerslagteren has reviewed production lines and processes to map the financial and environmental benefits of increased digitalisation within the company. The project has, amongst other things, mapped the digital opportunities specifically available to our business. A strategy has been drawn up outlining which digital investments are the most obvious for Bornholmerslagteren to make, and two major investments in production and packaging have already been initiated.
In addition, Bornholmerslagteren has had a strategy laid out for which digital investments are to be initiated so that the company constantly moves towards a more sustainable direction. This is something we ourselves have a very strong desire for, and we know this is also a strong desire among our grocery consumers.
The project's course has given Bornholmerslagteren a major boost towards the digital and green world!”
"Through collaboration with companies such as HASLE Refractories and Bornholmerslagteren, we have gained valuable insight into how technology and digitalisation can help make production more efficient, sustainable and competitive.
We are pleased to have had the opportunity to present the results from the workshop and the concrete recommendations for manufacturing companies on Bornholm. We hope that these companies will benefit from the report and implement the proposed solutions to strengthen their market position and contribute to the green transition.
We will continue to work to promote innovation and sustainable development on Bornholm and look forward to continuing our cooperation with both businesses and authorities in our efforts to create a more sustainable future.”.
If you would like to delve a bit deeper into the topics presented at the innovation workshop, you can find the material below
