Conscious choice for a sustainable approach to Maintenance & Asset Management

‘I am now a Certified Sustainable Asset Management Practitioner’

Etex is a global innovator in lightweight building solutions that help create sustainable, beautiful, smart and safe living spaces. Bram Bogaerts works as a Project Engineer at subsidiary URSA and can call himself a Certified Sustainable Asset Management Practitioner. ‘I took the training course on Sustainable Asset Management because sustainability is high on our agenda.’

URSA’s production facility is located in Desselgem, Belgium. Bogaerts has been working here for about a year and a half. ‘We mainly produce insulation materials, such as glass wool and XPS insulation panels. As a Project Engineer, I am involved in CAPEX investments as well as energy management. Both topics are related to Sustainable Asset Management, so the training appealed to me greatly.’

Sustainable Asset Management

Sustainable Asset Management is the practical approach developed within the MORE4Sustainability research. Sustainable Asset Management stands for the implementation of practices that help to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The research has shown that the Technical Department can certainly contribute to achieving the company’s sustainability objectives.
Etex’s mission is ‘Building today, tomorrow’. Bogaerts: ‘URSA is a major consumer of energy. So we found it very interesting to learn that we can also take steps towards sustainability from Maintenance & Asset Management. Every step is important in this regard.’

Sustainable product

The main purpose of insulation material is to ensure that homes and businesses consume less energy. ‘So the product is already sustainable,’ says Bogaerts. ‘83% of the glass wool is based on recycled glass. We are looking for ways to make the production process itself increasingly sustainable. That is not easy because melting glass consumes an enormous amount of energy. To this end, we use a fully electric melting furnace.’ This is fully in line with the findings of the MORE4Sustainability study. Several early adopters who participated in the study indicated that plant electrification – i.e. the installation of electric pumps, compressors, heating systems and the vehicle fleet – had already taken place before 2020. It is a logical first step towards sustainability, with a high return on investment. ‘And now we are looking at how we can keep our electrical energy consumption as low as possible. Our CAPEX investments are strongly focused on this goal. For example, we are considering more energy-efficient transformers and looking for ways to distribute energy more efficiently throughout the process,’ says Bogaerts.

Sustainability measures

Etex and its subsidiary URSA are therefore already well on their way to becoming more sustainable. But new knowledge is always welcome, which is why Bogaerts took the physical training course. ‘It was particularly informative to hear what other companies are doing. The training courses included many case studies of companies that apply specific sustainability measures and the results they achieve with them, such as .’
It was a real eye-opener to learn that predictive maintenance can also contribute to energy efficiency. “We are already working on this, but more in the context of increasing reliability. It was good to hear that this approach also helps to optimise energy consumption. It provides insight into how machines behave, when deviations occur and how this can be prevented. This leads to better uptime and also provides insight into the factory’s energy requirements.”

Implementation

A valuable tool that has emerged from the MORE4Sustainability research is the ‘self-scan’. This helps to investigate where you stand and where there is potential for improvement. Bogaerts: ‘This is certainly useful and can help companies that do not yet have a system for this. We have our own process for setting annual energy targets.’
Within URSA, there is a monthly meeting where energy management is the main topic. Bogaerts has contributed his newly acquired knowledge here. ‘We completed the self-scan and critically reviewed the MORE4Sustainability Framework. What steps can we still take ourselves? We definitely want to implement further measures in the area of maintenance.’

E-learning and certificate

Bogaerts also deliberately took “the extra step” and obtained the “Certified Sustainable Asset Management Practitioner” certificate. “That wasn’t very difficult after I had completed the physical training. The questions asked in the final test were very familiar.”
He announced on LinkedIn that he had participated in the training and obtained the certificate. ‘I also think it’s important to spread the word, to show that we are striving for a sustainable production process and to inspire others to do the same,’ says Bogaerts.

Anyone who feels “inspired” can follow the e-learning course on Sustainable Asset Management and also obtain the certificate. Physical training courses will also be organised in the future by BEMAS in Belgium, NVDO in the Netherlands, EMC2 in France and FVI in Germany. More information can be found at https://more4sustainability.nweurope.eu/.