Press Release: Sustainable Production Needs Knowledge Cycles
Rising energy prices, scarce raw materials, and growing sustainability requirements are increasing pressure on manufacturing companies. However, more efficient machines alone are not enough: faulty processes, rework, downtime, and vanishing experience-based knowledge also consume resources without creating value. Sustainable production therefore requires knowledge cycles in addition to material and energy cycles.
“Sustainability doesn’t begin with the CO₂ balance or recycling, but with avoiding waste in the production process,” explains Andreas Tobisch, CEO of DE software & control GmbH. “Material, energy, time, and knowledge are valuable resources. What matters is whether they enable value creation.”
An often underestimated location factor is the loss of experience-based knowledge when skilled workers retire or when operational work is relocated. “Production doesn’t just generate products, it generates new knowledge every day,” emphasizes Friedrich Steininger, Senior Advisor at DE software & control. “Anyone who views operational work merely as a cost factor underestimates its contribution to industrial competence.”
While scrap is visible, knowledge loss often remains hidden. “Knowledge loss is also a form of waste,” says Tobisch. A knowledge cycle – from learning to application to sharing – is meant to counteract this, for example through cross-generational dialogue as seen in the BoomerZ initiative.
From a technical point of view, DE software & control’s workstAItion 5.0 supports this approach by linking data from ERP, MES, and PLM systems with work instructions and experience-based knowledge. The benefits are also evident in maintenance: with DE-maintain, maintenance technicians are guided through symptom recording, root cause analysis, and action selection, reducing downtime and enabling proactive maintenance.
“Every error avoided saves material, every avoided rework saves energy, and every shortened waiting time saves productivity losses,” summarizes Tobisch. “The biggest lever often lies not in the next marginally more efficient machine, but in the consistent use of existing knowledge.”
To fully capture the economic benefit, Tobisch advocates for an expanded ROI horizon: “What matters is also whether a company preserves, multiplies, and makes its experience-based knowledge available for future tasks. That is where a sustainable competitive advantage lies.”
You can read the article here (German): Nachhaltige Produktion braucht Wissenskreisläufe – Line of Biz
