Ever since sustainability started growing in importance in the corporate and national level, industries like engineering, manufacturing and technology have been ones that have been at the forefront of it. This is primarily because one of the most important and tangible measures of sustainability is judicious use of resources.

One of the most obvious way by which this can be done is by reduction of losses which in turn is a direct function of efficiency of manufacturing and engineering operations. Ask any engineer, and he will tell you that it is practically impossible to have a manufacturing process or a machine which operates at 100% efficiency.

It is also a widely known and accepted fact that the efficiency level that our processes and factories operate at are nowhere near the optimal level or at a level which can be termed sustainable by any stretch of imagination.

As per studies, it has been estimated that almost 33% of the energy in the US is used by the manufacturing industry. Thus it is pretty evident that any improvement in the usage patterns and levels can drastically improve the sustainability levels of the industry and put them in good stead in achieving the target levels set forth. This however, is not going to be an isolated task that can be done on the shop floor alone.

In reality, this would require collaborative operation from design, engineering and manufacturing industries. Steps that can be taken in this regard include optimal use of fossil fuels, proper and methodical elimination of waste, practicing the 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle), to increase the shelf life of machines and make sure their advantages are fully and optimally derived and finally, device technology that allows us to recover energy from stray sources similar to the KERS used in Formula 1 cars which allowed us to convert the heat energy during braking which would have normally been lost to be converted in to kinetic energy of the transmission system to be used as a source of energy booster to the main engine.

Apart from the aforementioned departments, the corporate C suite also has a very important role to play in this regard. They are the ones who are ultimately responsible for driving this change by giving the direction to the company and by laying down strategies that emphasize sustainable practices through new and improved technology driven by innovation.

These can be done by adopting innovative practices like smart factories, agile method of operations and incorporating developments like AI and IoT which aim at reducing downtime and eliminating error which ultimately help in saving resources and utilizing the available ones to the most efficient extent. 

Thus, it is hardly a surprise that there has been a steady influx of investments aimed at enhancing efficiency levels of our machines and engineering processes as even a small improvement in these aspects will manifest as a significant impact on the sustainability targets of corporates and the carbon footprint of the nation on the whole.