A win for everyone
Sustainability should be worthwhile commercially. That’s why Endress+Hauser’s approach to decarbonizing its portfolio combines climate protection with added value, delivering even greater benefits to the customer.
Endress+Hauser has set a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The biggest challenge in achieving this lies in the Group’s up- and downstream value chains, with Scope 3 accounting for the bulk of its greenhouse gas emissions. Hans Joachim Fröhlich, Technology & Portfolio Director, explains: “We use a lot of steel and aluminum in our instruments, so more than a third of our environmental footprint comes from bought-in goods. And about half the footprint is attributable to energy consumption and other factors during the customer use-phase of our instruments, when you consider their long service lives.”
For these reasons, Fröhlich is working with Endress+Hauser’s product centers to decarbonize the Group’s portfolio. “We’re reviewing our portfolio product by product. We want the next generations of our instruments to be more sustainable while also giving customers added value – in the form of improved performance at a fair price, or unchanged performance at the same or lower prices.”
To shape this innovation process, the company is rolling out new group-wide ecodesign guidelines. The framework forms part of company standards for product development and will in future direct over 1,300 R&D personnel in their work. It lays down ecological principles and practices while still allowing latitude for designer creativity. The aim is to optimize the design of various types of instruments, focusing on aspects including the metals used, materials savings, the electronics, energy consumption and, in the case of analyzers, the emission levels of test gases. Endress+Hauser also intends to further boost its measuring instruments’ repairability and recyclability in the drive toward a circular economy.
Shorter development timeframes
In the future, software tools will help the company’s development teams assess the environmental implications of their ideas. Such tools could, for example, be used to identify the energy mix that goes into producing the proposed materials from which an instrument will be manufactured. There will also be greater use of technologies for testing and optimizing design variants virtually – before the first prototype is even built. “We are already industry leaders when it comes to simulating the behavior of components made from new eco-friendly and low-emission materials,” explains Hans Joachim Fröhlich. The development teams can also use computer simulation to rapidly assess the performance and commercial viability of new components, assemblies and entire instruments.
In Fröhlich’s view, achieving the company’s net-zero emissions target and, more specifically, realizing the optimal pairing of ecological sustainability and commercial viability will require both digitalization and close partnership with suppliers. Like Endress+Hauser, those suppliers are continually optimizing their processes, and many already operate very progressive value chains relative to their industry peers. “All of this is helping us to accelerate sustainable innovation for the benefit of our customers and the attainment of our bold climate goals,” says Fröhlich. Endress+Hauser aims to achieve a 35 percent reduction in emissions from its up- and downstream value chains by as early as 2034.
Sustainability by design
With its new ecodesign guidelines, Endress+Hauser is embedding sustainability principles even more deeply into its innovation processes. The framework ensures early-stage consideration of ecological factors in new product development and redesign of existing ones. The aim is to minimize the environmental impacts of the company’s products – by focusing on the type of construction or the materials and components used, for example. Good ecological design always creates environmental as well as economic benefits, such as through material savings or lower operating costs. The new framework aligns with the recent EU Ecodesign Directive and harmonizes existing standards within the Endress+Hauser Group.
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