Beyond Productivity: Fulfill ESG Metrics from Revolutionize the Production Line
In September 2021, the World Economic Forum (WEF) proposed that operational profitability and environmental sustainability can be developed in parallel. Being able to adapt to the changes in the general environment, and creating a well-established E (Environment), S (Social), G (Governance) polic is a must for company to stand firm in the future. Facing the changes in the environment and the lack of resources, how can Taiwanese manufacturers break through the siege?
Introduce technology to the production line strengthening ESG foundation
ESG is not only about sustainability, but also optimizing the working environment. Factories over consumed resources by having low-efficiency SOP or default units produced. By collaborating with cutting-edge technology, factories optimize production processes, reduce waste, and lay the foundation for ESG goals.
Visualize the production line with data collection: Bringing AI into production line to collect real-time data, and visualize the entire process to understand where the bottlenecks are. Unlike the past, when industrial engineers were the ones to collect data and evaluate. AI analyzes irregular working hours and cycle times more intuitively, with the ability to retrace the production line issue. The huge amount of data collected throughout the year can also be used as an important reference for future SOP optimization. When the chance of machine downtime and rework chance is reduced, it will naturally lead to energy saving and carbon reduction.
Defective products are a waste of cost: For the manufacturers, producing defective units is a headache. Defective units are for sure a waste, to both factory and environments. AI help identifies errors in each process immediately, to eliminate the possibility of producing a defective unit. If IPQC (Input Process Quality Control) can be ensured at each workstation, we can reduce material waste, lower costs, minimize recall chances, and see an overall improvement in customer satisfaction. Only by paying attention to the usage of energy and materials can we fulfill sustainability.
Making AI our great partner: One of the ESG core is governance. Factory operators are afraid of being replaced by AI. However, the purpose of introducing AI into the workplace is not to replace human workers but to allow us to work smarter, not harder. In this case, a human can devote more time into decision making. To simplify it, “letting humans do the more meaningful task.”
ESG Global Lighthouse Factory-Wistron
In March 2021, outstand from more than 1,000 factories, Wistron was selected by WEF and McKinsey as the global lighthouse factory. In its <2021 Sustainability Report,> mentioned three types of low-carbon transformation. One among the three, “smart energy management and optimization,” introduces advanced IoT, 5G and AI learning. It is able to conduct demand predictions, performance analyses, and smart controls of air compressors and air conditioning systems. The energy usage of a single unit was reduced by 9.4%, saving 10.16 million kWh of power. Successfully decreased carbon emissions by a total of 7,918 tons.
Bottom Line
Achieving ESG sustainability goals through enterprise transformation is not a one-step process. But what we do know is that it is a must. In the trend of Industry 4.0, we are being driven by the environment to incorporate new technologies such as IoT, automation, and computer vision into our production lines, so we are able to increase production capacity and reduce waste of resources, eventually fulfill ESG metrics and smart manufacturing.
Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/social-responsibility/2021-esg-report/overview / https://www.weforum.org/search?query=ESG / https://esg.wistron.com/ch/report-download/esg/ARm8pgR7oyD4/2021SustainabilityReportCH.pdf
