Sustainability is achieved in many places at TRUMPF. But that is only possible with many dedicated employees. Three of them tell their story.
CO2-neutrality with energy manager Sean Lin
Sean Lin smiles contentedly as he strolls through the pro duction hall. The thing that makes him smile, is the view high up under the hall roof: LEDs, everywhere. Over the past five years, Sean Lin and his team have converted all the lights in the production areas of TRUMPF China to LED and installed an intelligent control system. This has been his most effective measure as an energy manager to date, as artificial lighting used to account for 30 percent of the electricity bill. TRUMPF China is now saving 550,474 kWh per year – roughly equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 250 Chinese households. Quite an achievement: Sean Lin will exceed his energy saving target of 48,000 kWh for 2023 by a almost 80 percent. His gaze wanders back to the machinery. There is still a lot to do. For 2024, he has set himself an even higher energy saving target and is now focusing on production processes and building technology to achieve greater energy efficiency.
In the future, he and his team will mainly be tackling compressed air and air conditioning. The team is also working on a systematic energy saving plan for a new building. In all of this, what drives Sean Lin is transparency, as this is key to identifying significant energy users (SEUs) and energy-saving opportunities. This year, his team created a platform that displays every to the energy consumption of each department and every piece of high-power equipment. TRUMPF China is the first site to be fully powered by renewable energy. 1.5 MW of photovoltaic power was installed in TRUMPF China as early as 2021, and another 0.4 MW will be added soon. TRUMPF China will then produce 25 percent of its own electricity using photovoltaics – and if Sean Lin and his team have their way, it will be even more in the future.
The machine healer Robin Veneberg
Robin Veneberg proudly points to the TruLaser 3030 standing in the middle of the workshop. “Shines like new,” says the service technician happily. Appearances can be deceptive as the 2D laser cutting machine had previously been in service with a customer for eight years. Two weeks ago, it found its way back to TRUMPF. At the TRUMPF Resale Center in the Netherlands, Robin Veneberg and a total of eight employees refurbish disused machines Veneberg has been working for TRUMPF for four years, bringing disused TRUMPF machines back to life. He takes care of the entire reconditioning process, from cleaning to replacing parts that are no longer functional. As soon as a machine has been successfully reconditioned, TRUMPF sells it again through its normal sales channels. In this way, more than 2,000 disused machines have already found new owners.“I’m very pleased that my work is helping to make pro duction more climate-friendly,” says Veneberg.
This is because when TRUMPF sells a used machine instead of a new one, particularly energy-intensive components such as the steel machine body no longer need to be manufactured. To put this in context: a machine like the TruLaser 3030 weighs around 12 metric tons. Depending on the process, the production of one ton of steel generates almost 1.4 tons of CO2. Just by recycling the machine body, the company can save almost 16 tons of CO2. In addition, the carbon footprint of a reconditioned machine is remarkably low compared to that of a new machine, coming in at less than 0.5 percent of the latter.
The battery-recycler Max Rettenmeier
The laser hums quietly as it cuts apart the electric car battery. The protective door of the laser cell slides upwards and Max Rettenmeier, Industry Manager at TRUMPF Laser Technology, looks at the battery with satisfaction. Recycling used or faulty electric car batteries using laser technology could revolutionize the battery industry, as dismantling electric car batteries is currently time-consuming and even dangerous for workers. Until now, it has not been uncommon for kilometers of coated foil to end up as waste. Rettenmeier is working on changing this. As the demand for e-batteries is huge. In Europe alone, the industry will have to recycle 570,000 metric tons of battery material every year from 2030.
Powered by green electricity, electric cars produce significantly less greenhouse gas emissions. But without valuable raw materials such as cobalt and lithium, no electric car batteries. The extraction of these raw mate rials is often costly and unsustainable, an aspect currently exacerbated by the skyrocketing prices of battery materials. In addition, manufacturers must contend with long and uncertain supply chains. The valuable raw materials travel to battery factories around the world – their transport causes considerable greenhouse gas emissions. What’s more, the EU stipulates a recycling rate of up to 95 percent for certain battery materials. It therefore not only makes economic and environmental sense to recycle every gram of the raw materials in the batteries, but is also politically necessary.
In order to recycle batteries on an industrial scale, Rettenmeier and his colleagues from the Laser Application Center in Ditzingen are working with customers to develop innovative laser applications. This means that car manufacturers, battery producers and recyclers can now recycle batteries from electric cars on an industrial scale for the first time. The laser systems can safely cut open the used batteries and remove the valuable raw materials from the battery foil. In doing so, Rettenmeier and his colleagues can draw on the TRUMPF´s extensive expertise in laser welding and cutting for the production of electric car batteries. TRUMPF has been working with all the leading car and battery manufacturers for years.
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