Sustainability in manufacturing

Growing awareness of climate change and scarcity of our resources have subjected the use of energy and resources in manufacturing and production to close scrutiny. The efficiently in these areas can be improved dramatically. A study of energy efficiency in the manufacturing industry found that the amount of primary energy consumed could be reduced by up to 30 percent in the medium term. In order to exploit these opportunities, a number of changes must be made both to existing production processes and to products. We need a burst of innovation to develop new methods, technologies and products which enable resource efficiency and sustainability at every stage of a product´s life cycle, from production to operation to recycling. Energy and resource efficiency are major focal points of Fraunhofer IWU research. The Institute will be developed and expanded systematically over the coming years to form a ""Resource-Efficient Production Research Factory"" reflecting our role as a pioneer in this field. The key area of our research is improving efficiency in production processes.