This is another step towards making companies at NOI Techpark Brunico, the new hub opening in May 2023, more sustainable. 

How much carbon dioxide do companies produce through their manufacturing processes and products? This is an increasingly urgent matter, especially for businesses competing internationally. It is also true of South Tyrol’s leading automotive suppliers, who have come together in the Automotive Excellence South Tyrol (AES) innovation network. 

“Carbon footprint is one of the most important sustainability issues for customers today,” states Wolfgang Knollseisen, chief financial officer of Alupress. The Bressanone-based company, which specialises in ready-to-assemble aluminium die-cast components, is pioneering a project with an ambitious goal. It aims to develop innovative methods and approaches for collecting, calculating and reporting the CO₂ emissions of products from the network according to a uniform standard. They aim to achieve all this in the simplest way possible, with the least possible effort, while fully complying with international standards and regulations. 

From estimated to actual carbon footprint 

“Collecting and quantifying the carbon footprint of products and production processes is not a new concept. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methods and instruments have existed for some time now,” explains Erwin Rauch, an associate professor of smart and sustainable manufacturing at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (unibz) and one of the NOI Techpark Brunico’s scientific leads. However, these technologies are not widespread enough and are not being used consistently across companies. 

AES businesses also feel a strong sense of responsibility for South Tyrol’s decarbonisation, and are experiencing mounting pressure from automotive manufacturers and suppliers, as well as increasingly stringent legislation regarding the transparency of CO₂ emissions. “The focus is on reducing CCF (company carbon footprint) and determining PCF (product carbon footprint). Every company in our group has already taken initial steps in this area, but nobody has yet created a fully-fledged system. That's why we've launched this project, to work together on this,” explains Knollseisen. 

Initially, the companies intend to develop a standard to identify the CO₂ footprint of products 'from cradle to gate', i.e. from the extraction of raw materials to the delivery of finished products to the factory gate, particularly in the context of tenders. “By working together with other South Tyrolean car suppliers, we can share our experiences and arrive at a common standard,” states Knollseisen, CFO at Alupress. That’s not all though. Once the bid has been submitted and the order received, a second phase is necessary to compare the product's actual footprint with the previously calculated value. In future, this could be done using live tracking, which involves continually recording relevant data and monitoring the product's carbon footprint over time. 

Scientific support from unibz and Fraunhofer Italia 

Companies receive support from both the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and Fraunhofer Italia. “As a specialist in applied research, Fraunhofer Italia will provide invaluable assistance in translating scientific discoveries into practical applications and developing tailored, creative solutions for the project’s specific requirements,” explains Fraunhofer Italia researcher Davide Don. IoT and digital solutions also play a key role. “Europe is in an excellent starting position in relation to digitalisation and Industry 4.0 technologies. Combining this with environmental sustainability issues offers huge potential, giving Europe a global competitive advantage,” states Erwin Rauch. This further increases the importance of the project. “Currently, collecting the data needed to calculate a product’s carbon footprint, and processing it systematically and correctly, is still challenging and requires a lot of manual work. The main potential of this project is that this can be done using real-world data tracking and largely automated calculations. Once the feasibility study is complete, we will assess whether individual companies have the necessary requirements or what needs to be done in future. In the medium term, we plan to develop a carbon footprint monitoring tool in a subsequent R&D project, which we will then implement in AES companies. This would significantly reduce the effort required to record CO₂ emissions and, most importantly, create a competitive advantage for AES companies in the future,” says Rauch. 

“Only sustainable companies will be able to survive in the future.” 

Every AES pilot company is conducting a carbon footprint analysis and is fully committed to the project. “Over the coming years and decades, sustainability will be the defining challenge. This is partly because the topic goes hand in hand with economic development. Only sustainable companies will be able to survive in the future. I’m absolutely sure of that,” states Georg Grünbacher of Intercable. Thanks to innovative real-time monitoring, the plastics manufacturer can carry out measurements directly during production and when bidding for new projects, aligning planning with the CO₂ footprint. “This is an effective tool for influencing how new projects are awarded directly. Exchanging experiences and know-how with other participating companies provides enormous added value in terms of understanding all aspects and assessing all needs. These different viewpoints mean we can implement the project as efficiently as possible,” he adds. 

All the pilot companies can see how they can improve the environmental impact and energy balance of their products. “As in many other sectors, the greatest potential lies in reducing the distance travelled by raw materials,” states Georg Trompedeller, Head of Quality at Tratter Engineering,another plastic components manufacturer. “Local production, quality and structured processes should be our focus once again. Intelligent product use could extend the lifecycle of products many times over.” 

However, processes are often particularly energy-intensive though and the pilot companies are focusing on these in an initial phase. “Our most energy-intensive process is tempering,” states Michaela Golser from GKN Driveline. Until now, the manufacturer of electrified transmissions and all-wheel drive systems for the automotive industry hardened parts using a gas-fired hardening system, resulting in an unsatisfactory CO₂ footprint due to the high fossil fuel consumption. Over the last three years, the tempering process has been undergoing a change. A new plant will use electricity instead of gas, and at GKN, this is 100% green hydroelectric power. “This considerably reduces our CO₂ footprint,” says Golser. “To further reduce CO₂ emissions, large companies must focus on being much more sustainable in their choice of energy-efficient machinery, suppliers and logistics processes to reduce transportation distances.” 

A pioneer in other sectors 

At its sister company, GKN Sinter Metals, the company works closely with customers and from the outset has developed strategies to ensure their operations are carbon-neutral in the future. “Firstly, we had to assess what point we’re at now and how GKN plans to develop carbon-neutral products in the future,” explains Markus Preuß, global manager of manufacturing engineering and sustainability projects. “We have therefore developed a roadmap with five key pillars: further investment in digitalising our processes; resource efficiency and sustainable purchasing; employee integration; partnerships for social events; and last but not least, innovation and development of carbon-neutral products.” On its journey to becoming more sustainable, GKN is also supported by external partners such as the Technical University of Munich and the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. These partners provide various types of support from life cycle assessments and workshops to engaging employees in new ideas on energy efficiency and decarbonisation. GKN is also investing in individual sites, where photovoltaic systems will gradually be installed and where production processes can be managed more efficiently through innovation. 

Ultimately, research into sustainable production will begin at a high level at the new NOI Techpark in Brunico. This will draw on the experience and expertise of a wide range of local businesses, which will continue to grow alongside this new joint project. “By working together, we will create a platform for sharing ideas to promote energy saving and energy optimisation. We’ll also be collaborating to develop systems that can be adopted by other sectors,” concludes project manager Wolfgang Knollseisen.