PINPOINTING climate change as possibly the most serious challenge humankind has ever had to tackle, Sew-Eurodrive has for many years pursued a sustainability agenda that is applied across every aspect of its business.
According to Sew-Eurodrive managing partner Jürgen Blickle, the company recognises that the number and scale of natural disasters are growing at an alarming rate – threatening people all around the world.
“This means every one of us has a responsibility to do what we can to slow down and stop this process, and this is particularly true for industry,” says Blickle. He points out that sustainability is nothing new for Sew-Eurodrive, which has long since seen recycling as an essential step in achieving a sustainable circular economy. The company has also championed renewable and efficient energy sources, and maximised the energy efficiency of its drives.
Living up to responsibilities
“We believe that sustainability goes even further than that, though,” he says. “We are determined to live up to our responsibilities in every way, whether in relation to the environment, our customers, our business partners, our employees, and not least our children and the world in which they will live.”
Through a long-term sustainability initiative called sustainability@SEW, the company is gradually and consistently safeguarding resources, lowering CO2 emissions and optimising its entire value chain. Much progress has already been made, as it has for many years adopted a philosophy and practical approach that is centred on sustainable, durable
products and an unwavering focus on customers and their requirements.
This ‘cradle-to-cradle’ approach – established back in 1990 as an end-to-end system for a circular economy – is now a benchmark for the environmentally friendly development of products and associated processes. It means that all the products, materials and substances used to manufacture a product can be fully returned to, or reused in, biological or technical loops.
Eco-design
This holistic approach is really the basis for planning the roll-out of Sew-Eurodrive’s in-house eco-design guidelines. An example of how this is applied can be found in the way the company is developing and documenting two projects already underway on the recycling of brake components and magnets. These projects will provide a basis for eco-design to extend to the product categories of motors and electronics.
Another project will take these findings further and incorporate more product families. With its depth of expertise built from its sustained commitment to quality, Sew-Eurodrive is opening a completely new chapter in product design with this sustainable product concept development. Its design guidelines will be distilled into practical recommendations such as avoiding the use of certain adhesives or casting resin.
Reuse and recycling
The company will also produce an extended product qualification system as a benchmark for product development. Among the focus areas are reuse and recycling, which give many components a second lease on life. The scope of recycling is to be maximised, while leveraging a reuse system that puts as many products as possible back into service.
This means inspecting and cleaning reusable parts to possibly be fed back directly into the production process. This saves on the energy required to recycle materials and transport them.
