Glass Production - Sustainability in all aspects

Our stand at the trade fair glasstec 2014 showcased all these aspects of the concept.Sustainable PlanningSiemens assists plant operators, investors and general-contractors right from the early planning phase, ensuring everything is in place for plant-wide automation.Siemens firmly believes that all concerned can benefit immeasurably if the various plant units feature the same hardware and software, with clearly specified interfaces. This makes connection to a higher-level process control system easy to implement, and ensures data continuity throughout the entire plant. Right from the planning phase, the groundwork is in place for all involved in planning and implementation to work together toward this goal.

Sustainable Production

Plant-wide automation is particularly advantageous in day-to-day production. Although the initial investment is a little higher, the plant’s operating costs are significantly lower over a lifecycle of 15 years, or longer. This means greater profitability. In addition, the glass industry today – especially plant operators and machine manufacturers in the batch house and hot end – is striving for the efficient use of energy to ensure productivity and reduce costs. All while maintaining high quality standards.

Operators can counter rising energy costs with optimized production processes, energy-efficiency solutions and energy-saving technologies. Similarly, quality is also assured by fully-automated production processes, combined with high-quality raw materials. The process control system Simatic PCS 7 provides the glass industry with an answer for both of these central demands. PCS 7 minimizes instabilities in plant operations during the melting process, ensuring savings in raw materials and energy.

Further potential for sustainable operations can be found in preheating the melting charge or using waste heat. The waste heat produced in the glass production process can be used to generate energy to cover the plant’s requirements. A compact steam turbine transforms the waste heat from the melting furnace into electricity.

Sustainable Services

Siemens not only supports its customers with technological solutions, but also offers specialist expertise and industry know-how. The experience and competence of specialists has become an important factor for success in global competition. After all, it takes a specialist to exploit a plant’s full potential for optimization: a specialist knows which modernizations are worthwhile, what to be aware of when it comes to new investments, and where the greatest amount of energy can be saved.

In response to its customers’ wide range of needs and requests, Siemens offers an extensive Service Portfolio throughout the entire lifecycle of a plant: from planning and engineering all the way to the operating phase and modernizations. This includes energy audits, telephone support from Siemens specialists for urgent problems, and assistance for financing new machines, plants and total investments.

See for yourself how plant-wide automation can ensure your sustainable success over the entire lifecycle of a glass production facility – including planning and services on our glas manufacturing website.

This is a guest article by Bernhard Saftig, Head of Siemens Glass and Solar.