Energy and Media Efficiency in the Beverage Industry – The EME Standard
By Dr Christoph Reichel, Plant Engineering, Measuring Systems at TUV SUD Industrie Service
Manufacturers and operators of machinery and equipment for the beverage industry must choose a highly comprehensive approach when it comes to energy and media efficiency, starting from the delivery of raw materials, auxiliaries and supplies and optimising water systems through to the treatment of waste water or the development of hygiene and sanitation systems. What is needed are reasonable standards governing operations and design processes. TÜV SÜD’s “Energy and Media Efficiency, Environmental Sustainability” standard implemented at Krones AG is one good practice example.
Dr Christoph Reichel, Plant Engineering, Measuring Systems at TUV SUD Industrie Service.
“People do not understand what a great source of revenue thrift is,” said Roman writer and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. Today as topical as ever, the adage also applies to the beverage industry, where many components of machinery and equipment include potential savings. TÜV SÜD has developed a standard for assessing the energy and media efficiency of machines and equipment that also takes environmental sustainability into account. The standard uses the best available technology as a benchmark. The “Energy and Media Efficiency, Environmental Sustainability” (EME) standard thus facilitates the development of energy-efficient, resource-saving and environmentally friendly industrial systems and production processes.
To this end, the experts analyse the extent to which management has rooted the aspects of energy efficiency, resource efficiency and environmental compatibility in its operations or design process. After all, management and organisational structures must be such that employees operate or design machinery and equipment with the goal of achieving maximum efficiency. To reach this goal, companies need an energy officer and must establish continuous monitoring of the state of the art and initial and continued training measures to raise staff awareness of these three aspects, which are imperative to ensure that potential areas of saving are identified and used to the full throughout all levels.
In step 2, TÜV SÜD’s experts then examine the machines and their components, focusing on key issues such as: Are modern high-efficiency or low-energy drive systems and pumps used, and do they have the optimum dimensions for the applications in question? Does the company make intelligent use of waste heat in further processes? Is the input of resources known, and has the company already taken measures to minimise these quantities? The experts then examine the total system at system level, checking whether the sum total of all components permits further savings and whether savings are actually exploited to the full – by using cyclic processes for example. When the company fulfils the efficiency criteria, individual or system certificates can be awarded. In the first case, the certificate analyses and confirms the characteristics of a specific machine. In the second case, TÜV SÜD’s experts test and certify the process in the company – similar to quality management certification. In this case, the certification process looks at the design and development process, but also at documentation and many other aspects.
For system certification, the manufacturer must prepare an EME policy, specific requirements and internal documented procedures that address all requirements of the EME standard. The employees will then develop and design the systems in conformity with the company’s policy and rate the finished machine using a point-scoring system against a detailed checklist based on company policy and the EME standard. Basically, the standard also demands continuous monitoring of, and alignment to, the best available technology. Only a machine that reaches the required minimum score in the strict internal assessment procedure can be labeled as a product of the certified process/system.
Case study: EME Standard at Krones
One practice example is Krones AG. The company plans, designs and manufactures process, filling, packaging and intralogistics solutions – machines and entire systems – for the beverage industry. Together with TÜV SÜD Krones has defined the industry-sector-specific enviro standard, which received the EME system certificate. In this context, Krones also considers the consumption of water and compressed air, lubricants, cleaning detergents and disinfectants, checking that the substances are also selected according to their environmental compatibility and only used in the precise amounts required. TÜV SÜD assessed the product development and manufacturing processes at Krones AG in accordance with the EME standard and found them to be in compliance with the requirements derived from the state of the art. Given this, Krones AG now holds independent certification confirming that its components and systems satisfy even the highest efficiency and environmental standards. In addition, the assessment discloses the energy demand, the consumption of water and other resources and requirements for further consumables specific for various operating conditions. This creates transparency in areas including costs in later operation, and sets standards against which the industry can measure itself.
The author: Dr Christoph Reichel, Plant Engineering, Measuring Systems at TUV SUD Industrie Service. Tel. +49 (0)89 5791 3384, Fax +49 (0)89 5791 3355, Email christoph.reichel@tuev-sued.de, Website www.tuev-sued.de/is.
