Rockwell Automation white paper says energy-efficient manufacturing a must

罗克韦尔自动化白皮书表示高能效生产不可或缺

MILWAUKEE, March 9, 2009 — Rockwell Automation has released a new white paper that explores how world class brands, The Boeing Company, Coca-Cola and General Mills, use sustainable production practices to help manage today’s economic challenges. The paper, Perspectives on Sustainable Production: Delivering Economic Value and Serving Greater Good, features viewpoints from sustainability executives at Rockwell Automation and its customers, all of whom consider sustainable production practices a necessity during the current economic downturn.

2009年3月9日— 罗克韦尔自动化新发布一份白皮书，探讨了世界一流品牌的波音公司、可口可乐和通用磨坊公司是如何使用可持续的生产方式，帮助管理当今的经济挑战。这份名为《可持续生产前景：提供经济价值和服务更大利益》的白皮书，罗克韦尔自动化公司主管及其客户从可持续发展的角度阐述了观点，他们都认为可持续的生产方式在当前经济衰退的环境下不可或缺。

“Sustainability is just good business. Energy efficiency, improvement in recycling, and eliminating waste are things we’ve been doing since the 1990s,” Coca-Cola’s Mark Lee, director, Commercial Products Supply Engineering/ELSP, says in the paper. “We’ve been doing these things for the last 10 years and we will work on them for the next 10. It’s part of a continuous improvement culture and the relentless pursuit of waste elimination, whether it’s labor, inventory, energy or water. I think it’s a part of what you have to do to be a successful manufacturing entity.”

可口可乐商用产品供应工程/ELSP部主管Mark Lee表示：“可持续发展是良好的业务。能源效率、改善循环以及消除浪费是我们从上个世纪90年代以来就一直在做的事情。在过去10年以来我们一直在做这些事情，而且我们将在未来的10年也致力于这些事情。它是一个不断改善的文化和对无论劳动力、库存、能源还是水等消除浪费不懈追求的一部分。 我认为这是你想成为一个成功的制造实体的一部分。”

Rockwell Automation defines sustainable production as cleaner, safer and more energy-efficient operations. Production is cleaner when it reduces waste, minimizes emissions and consumes fewer natural resources. Production is safer when it protects workers from job injuries, the community from harm, processes and equipment from downtime, and when it helps ensure product safety and quality. Finally, production is more energy efficient when companies produce goods with less energy.

罗克韦尔自动化将可持续生产定义为更清洁、更安全、更节能的生产。减少浪费，最大限度地减少排放量和消耗较少的自然资源就是更清洁的生产。保护工人免受工伤，社会免受伤害，工艺和设备免停机，以及有助于确保产品安全和质量就是更安全的生产。最后，企业以较少的能源制造产品就是更节能的生产。

“Rising prices and shortages of resources, whether of talent, dollars, energy or materials, have rewritten the economics of manufacturing,” comments Bob Ruff, senior vice president, Control Products and Solutions, Rockwell Automation. “Sustainable production practices deliver economic value. They provide a long-term solution to volatile energy, scarce raw materials, costly workers’ compensation, lost worker productivity, and product liability costs.”

“物价上涨和资源短缺，无论是人才、美元、能源或新材料，已经改写了制造业经济学， ”罗克韦尔自动化控制产品和解决方案部高级副总裁Bob Ruff评论道。 “可持续的生产方式带来经济价值。他们为波动性较大的能源、稀缺的原材料、高额的工人赔偿金、劳动生产力的缺失以及产品责任成本提供一个长期的解决办法。”

“In times of economic trouble, sustainable companies become survivable companies because they’ve driven inefficiencies out of their system,” adds Boeing’s James W. Fonda, advanced technologist, Networked Systems. “Any responsible company will continue to try to drive their bottom line home, so they become survivable in times when oil becomes more expensive and other economic problems bubble to the surface and cause havoc.”

“在经济困难的时候，实行可持续生产的公司成为可以生存下来的公司，因为他们已经将低效率驱逐出了其体系，”波音公司网络技术部高级技术员James W. Fonda补充道。 “任何负责任的公司都将继续努力尽可能地推动其公司盈利，使他们能够在石油价格更高及其他经济问题浮现并造成严重破环的时候生存下来。 ” 

All three of the Rockwell Automation customers agree that regardless of the type of project – energy conservation, water treatment or materials substitution, for example – priorities and success depend on being able to show how sustainable production supports a particular business objective. 

罗克韦尔自动化这三个客户都认为，无论是什么类型的项目——比如节能、水处理、替代材料，其重点和成功都取决于能够展示可持续生产是如何支持特定商业目标。  

“Which project is most important really depends on the business justifications for improvement, and that will vary by region and country. We have to make sure there is a business reason to improve and post gains against those metrics,” explains General Mills’ Jim Schulz, director, Controls and Information Systems.  

“哪个项目是最重要的实际上取决于改进的商业理由，并且这将是随着不同的地区和国家而不同。我们必须确保有一个商业上的原因改进和从这些指标取得收获， ”通用磨控制和信息系统主管Jim Schulz解释道。    

In the Rockwell Automation paper, Schulz cites General Mills’ waste treatment facility at its , Ga. plant as an example of how a project executed for typical business reasons also benefits the community and environment. The facility, operated with Rockwell Automation control technologies, recovers and treats the plant’s food-processing wastewater for reuse in non-food applications. While planning began years before, it went online in the summer of 2006 during the Atlanta drought. The facility has reduced the plant’s water consumption by an average of 46 percent, or about 5.3 million gallons per month, which is enough to supply about 1,000 homes. Schulz also notes the facility saves General Mills approximately $840,000 per year.

在这份罗克韦尔自动化白皮书里， Schulz引用通用磨坊在美国乔治亚州Covington工厂的废物处理设施作为一个例子，就是对典型商业理由执行的一个项目是如何也有利于社会和环境。这些设施运用着罗克韦尔自动化的控制技术，回收和处理工厂的食品加工废水在非食品应用中再利用。尽管规划在几年前就开始了，它是在亚特兰大2006年夏天旱灾期间上线的。这些设备平均减少了工厂的耗水量为46%，约530万加仑每月，这足够供应约1000个家庭的使用。Schulz还注意到，通用磨坊工厂每年节省84万美元左右。    

“Showing the benefits is clearly the single most critical success factor,” Schulz says. “The difficult part of that is sometimes those benefits are hard to see. That’s where information and their systems are so critical. If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”   

Schulz表示：“可见的好处显然是一个最关键的成功因素，但困难的是有时这些好处是很难看到的。这就是信息及他们的系统是如此关键的原因。如果你没有考虑它，你就不能管理它。”

“We’ve done a pretty sound job of driving energy improvements and efficiencies. Now we are looking at that next level where opportunities are harder to find and harder to justify,” explains Lee from Coca-Cola. “The next cut of granularity requires better data. That’s one of the areas where we partner with Rockwell Automation to deploy energy-monitoring solutions, which allow us to find those hidden opportunities.”

可口可乐的Lee解释道：“我们已经做了非常良好的工作以推动能源的改进和提高效率。现在，我们正关注着机会更难发现和更难判断的下一个阶段。 下一个粒度的降低需要更好的数据，这是我们与罗克韦尔自动化展开节能监测解决方案合作的一个领域，这使我们能够找到这些潜在的机会。 ”    

At Boeing, a pilot program includes wireless sensors attached to electric motors that monitor the operations and health of plant and facilities equipment, such as heating and cooling systems. By incorporating predictive-modeling technologies, these sensors can also recommend repair or replacement before problems occur.

在波音公司，一个试验项目包括连接到电动机的无线传感器，用于监测工厂和例如加热和冷却系统等设施设备的运营和正常情况。通过配合预测建模技术，这些传感器还可以在问题发生之前建议修理或更换。

“We’re modeling our processes to try to improve them. It’s one way we can look at how we can reduce waste and change processes before we make investments in those changes,” Boeing’s Fonda describes in the paper. 

波音公司的Fonda在白皮书中描述道：“我们正在对我们的流程建模，力图改善它们。这是我们在进行投资之前看看我们如何能减少浪费和改变流程的一种方式。 ”

Ruff makes the point that today’s integrated control and information systems provide access to real-time data that helps lower costs and improve efficiencies.

Ruff重点指出，今天的综合控制和信息系统提供访问实时数据的能力，可以帮助降低成本和提高效率。

Rockwell Automation also recently announced the results of a new survey that found an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that cleaner, safer and more energy-efficient production practices are the most important manufacturing issues in today’s economy. The survey of more than 1,000 adults over the age of 18 was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation. Using energy, raw materials or natural resources more efficiently was the top response chosen when respondents were asked why they believe U.S. manufacturers need to invest in automating and modernizing their factories.

罗克韦尔自动化最近还宣布了一项新的调查结果，发现绝大多数美国人认为，更清洁、更安全、更节能的生产方式在当今经济领域是最重要的生产问题。民意调查公司对1000多位18岁以上的成年人进行了这项调查。当受访者被问到他们为什么相信国的制造商必须投资于自动化和现代化的工厂时，更有效地使用能源、原材料或自然资源是他们的最先选择。