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Working for a better future: how Norican and Condals Group are measuring and reducing their emissions

At Norican and our six global brands – DISA, ItalPresseGauss, Monitizer, Simpson, StrikoWestofen and Wheelabrator – we want to help our customers measure and reduce their emissions. Sustainability leader Condals Group is now using the Monitizer IIoT system to help reduce energy consumption, cut scrap and continue to reduce its emissions.

Sustainability reporting is no longer “nice to have” but an essential part of running a business. From 2024 onwards, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will make audited emissions reporting compulsory for large companies like Norican, Condals and many of our customers.

As emissions regulations tighten globally, pressure to act sustainably is coming from all directions: our customers’ own customers, their shareholders and many other stakeholders. Plus, it’s the right thing to do for future generations. Our industry must respond – and it is. To guide our strategy, Norican has already signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and we are encouraging our customers to do the same.

Sustainability at Condals

Sustainable innovator and long-term Norican customer, Spain’s Condals Group believes care and respect for the environment is part of its obligation to society. It has run an ambitious sustainability strategy for decades: Condals Foundry was first certified for ISO 14001 in 1998 and is also ISO 50001-certified.

“Since 2002, we have been measuring our Scope 1 and 2 emissions ,” says David de la Cruz, CIO at Condals Group.

Condals has made great progress in reducing energy consumption, cutting waste and shifting to an internal circular economy of re-use, recovery and recycling.

  • Over 90% of raw casting materials come from recycled sources
  • Used moulding sand goes into concrete and landscaping instead of landfill
  • Lower carbon substitutes replace resins and coal, reducing VOC and other emissions
  • All foundry equipment emissions are filtered and treated before release

Condals constantly innovates, helping to cut its annual energy consumption by 19.7% and its Scope 1 emissions by 27.3% across 2019-20, as stated on their sustainability report published in June 2021. For example:

  • Restructuring foundry layout to reduce forklift travel
  • Cutting water consumption
  • Retrofitting LED lighting
  • Installing timers and motion detectors that automatically switch off unused lights

Smart investments boost sustainability and profit

Condals knows technology helps overcome sustainability challenges; it spent over €1 million on R&D in 2019-20. Deploying Monitizer’s modular IIoT platform is the latest successful tech initiative. Monitizer | DISCOVER collects, stores and displays data from almost any equipment, delivering insight on process performance and making it possible for Condals to monitor energy use in areas like melting and pouring alongside other process data.

“Using Monitizer, we now have a complete digital view that we are extending to monitor energy consumption right across our process," says David. “To reduce energy consumption, we started by looking for the biggest energy consumers, then moved onto the smaller ones.”

Monitizer | PRESCRIBE is helping Condals get even closer to its zero defects goal by harnessing the power of AI to optimise the entire foundry process. By implementing PRESCRIBE, Condals has seen a very positive trend on scrap reductions on one moulding line and is now using it to optimise a second line.

"If you reduce your scrap, you increase your sustainability," says David. "It's really that simple."

Setting targets, implementing change

Condals reports its emissions according the GHG emissions calculator published by the Catalan Office for Climate Change while Norican works with SBT. These two different schemes are both equally valid and effective ways to measure and report emissions for CSRD.

Norican has now set a reduction target: cutting 2021 Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% by 2032. To make that happen, we are looking at everything we do, from choosing suppliers to how we build our equipment and deliver our services, to how our solutions are stored, shipped and used. Our sustainability ambassadors are working hard to engage with every member of #TeamNorican to hear their ideas and implement them.

“Across our APAC workforce, we’ve already been able to collect around 150 ideas for sustainability initiatives,” says Robert Li, VP Strategic Development & HR, Norican Asia Pacific. “Some need time to implement, but others we are introducing immediately, for example, installing a solar panel on the roof of our Changjiang workshop to achieve a 329t annual emission reduction.”

Other initiatives underway include procuring bio-degradable office supplies, cutting plastic waste and recovering waste heat within our manufacturing facilities. With one tree planted for each idea submitted, hundreds are already in the ground.

Making sense of Scope 3

Condals already factors in energy efficiency when procuring products and services, and recently started measuring its Scope 3 emissions – a more challenging process because it involves the whole supply chain.

"When we buy raw materials or deliver components to different locations, we have to work out the emissions involved," says David. "There are a lot of inputs and it's hard to be exact. For example, travel emissions vary widely depending on the vehicle type and the routes used.

"Being able to measure – and taking action to minimise – our emissions is starting to win us new contracts," he continues. "I think that will become more and more important. Because we now use 100% renewable electricity for our furnaces, our Scope 2 emissions are zero. When our customers ask us questions about our emissions, it doesn't take long to give them the information."

“To reduce your carbon footprint, you must define a long term strategy, decide which actions you will perform and implement the tools and processes required to make them happen," concludes David. "This isn't something we're doing just for our customers, we have a wider responsibility to society. In the end, sustainability is part of our DNA."  

We want to work hand-in-hand with customers to support their sustainability programmes and encourage them to sign up to SBT or similar reporting initiatives. This will help them measure and reduce their own emissions, and will also provide vital data to feed into Norican’s Scope 3 measurement. You can join Norican in adopting science-based targets – and help the world to avoid climate catastrophe.

Interested in setting science-based targets? Start your journey here.