German machine tool industry: actively participate in energy saving and environmental protection

Blue Competence, the 'Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Action Initiative' jointly launched by the German Machine Tool Builders Association (VDW) and its member companies, aims to emphasize the attention and practice of sustainable development, energy conservation and environmental protection in the production process. Blue Competence defines the concept of sustainable development of industrial production and adheres to a holistic view on energy efficiency, which means that the machine tool industry not only optimizes a single product, but also cooperates with users and component manufacturers to improve the energy of the process and final product. efficiency. Compliance with this initiative fully demonstrates the responsibility of German machine tool manufacturers in the use of raw materials and the avoidance of adverse effects on the environment during processing. In addition, the goal of this initiative is also a call and a 'pioneer' for the formulation of laws and regulations for 'standardization' of energy conservation and environmental protection in the machine tool industry. Not long ago, at the Stuttgart International Metalworking Exhibition (AMB), 27 German machine tool manufacturers and machine tool-related companies showed their advanced products and solutions reflecting the Blue Competence initiative around the theme of sustainability, energy conservation and environmental protection in the production process. The purpose of this is to let the audience see the unique capabilities of each enterprise under the common topic of 'energy saving and environmental protection'. VDW Executive Director Dr. Wilfried Schäefer said at the AMB press conference, 'Under the initiative of Blue Competence, the German machine tool industry has taken proactive measures to actively participate in energy saving and environmental protection actions, which makes them more prominent in international competition. , more advantages”  In order to allow companies to better promote their products and solutions, VDW has set some prerequisites in the initiative, and companies accept the responsibility to protect the natural environment and protect the climate by signing these documents. At the same time, VDM's actions are also announcing to the industry that they are ready to join hands with manufacturers and customers to have a better dialogue on 'environmental protection'. The emergence of the Blue Competence initiative is not just a market demand. Within the framework of the EUP Directive, European environmental policy-making bodies set specific standards for manufacturers of energy-efficient machine tools, aimed at maintaining a continuous and quantifiable environmentally friendly manufacturing behavior of these companies. In terms of practical operation, the EUP directive is more inclined to the self-regulation of industries and enterprises. Overview of the Blue Competence Initiative Machine tool products are non-functional units that cannot be measured by a fixed standard. Therefore, the European machine tool industry has developed a modular concept in which the potential for improvement of the energy consumption of each machine tool company can be quantified. By changing the module, energy can be saved to the greatest extent without affecting other production tasks. Various measures must take into account the user of the machine tool, and the energy consumed by the machine tool in use is the link that has the greatest impact on the environment. The European machine tool industry is implementing the EUP directive through self-regulation. The formulation of internationally unified evaluation standards relies on the generation of different standards. Only when standardization is generated can unfair competition be avoided. VDM is full of confidence in the machine tool industry's success in achieving energy conservation and environmental protection, because the association is giving full play to its capabilities to maximize the effect of energy conservation and environmental protection. However, the measures formulated must be practical, otherwise they will not have the desired effect in the market.