Manufacturing Today Issue - 221 February 2024 | Page 26

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Process mining

The simple solution to sustainability in manufacturing

For many manufacturing businesses , the temptation to put sustainability on the back burner is very real , as organizations grapple with supply chain challenges and inflation . What these companies don ’ t realize is that by focusing on sustainability , they can benefit both their bottom line and their ‘ green line ’ at the same time . But doing so requires the right technological tools . Some manufacturing companies are still being held back by a reluctance to harness technology and data to boost their sustainability ( and , by extension , their profits ). The manufacturing sector still lacks ready access to the data it needs to reach Net Zero , studies have shown . This is one of the key challenges the sector faces .

For manufacturers looking to improve sustainability , finding value opportunities within wasteful processes is the best place to start . Unclear processes , quality deficiencies and capacity bottlenecks lead to excess stock and production waste . This drives up costs and , in turn , has a negative effect on an organization ’ s carbon footprint . But all too often , such problems can be difficult for business leaders to see due to siloed ways of working , meaning that they can go undetected for years . For business leaders , finding and dealing with such problems creates real opportunities to find value and achieve their sustainability objectives . The answer , in large part , could lie in process mining .
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