Sustainability in production
Since 2018, an environmental protection team at HAMM has been advancing the further minimisation of raw material and energy consumption, waste, packaging and emissions of solvents (VOCs) and scrutinising all divisions. In this way, Hamm is improving its ecological footprint through large-scale measures as well as numerous finely detailed projects and is gradually reducing the energy demand and resource requirement for the production of rollers.
Certified according to ISO 14001
HAMM has installed an environmental management system in its main plant in Tirschenreuth and became ISO 14001 certified in November 2020. Through this certification, HAMM commits to keep working to reduce its emissions and resource consumption. In connection with this, HAMM also maintains a record of legal provisions for all environmental regulations concerning waste disposal, solvents, air quality, noise and water protection and can check these are being met. To firmly embed these tasks in the company, HAMM employs an environmental management officer and an energy officer.
Another important consideration when handling resources is ensuring that employees are made aware of these topics. This is why staff have for many years been attending regular training courses on how to prevent the waste of materials and energy.
Geothermal energy system and EV charging station
HAMM has been running a geothermal energy system since as early as 2013. This heats and cools the administration building using renewable energy from the soil. This way, HAMM prevents the emission of approximately 72 t CO₂ from heating and around 14 t CO₂ from cooling systems every year – a total of 86 t CO₂ saved. Additional measures in recent years have further reduced the energy consumed keeping offices and production halls at the right temperature.
With its charging columns for electric vehicles in the customer car park, HAMM is contributing towards zero-emissions transport. Visitors can use these charge points to charge their vehicles while they visit the plant.
Saving energy
As of 2023, HAMM has been operating a solar energy plant on the roof of the CTT (Training Centre). This uses the power of the sun to heat water for the showers in the CTT social rooms.
The plant makes good use of the principle of energy recuperation – though in two very different areas. On the roller test bench, where every machine is put through quality testing prior to delivery, the braking energy is fed back into the electricity supply. This also happens in the ultra-modern fully automated small parts warehouse every time the brakes are applied to the transport containers.
Lowering emissions
By switching to LED lights and adopting a more efficient approach to their use, the energy requirement for the lighting in the offices alone has been reduced by an impressive 16.5%. Over a year, that saves more than 191,000 kg in CO₂ emissions.
An energy-saving initiative in Production was focused on monitors and computers. As a result of this, computers and monitors at workstations in Production now automatically switch off when they are not required. In addition, some of the outdoor lighting has been dramatically reduced during night hours. Over the course of a year, that represents a saving of more than 33,000 kWh electricity or a 6,800 kg cut in CO₂ emissions.
Optimisations in the compressed air cycle also reduce the electricity/energy demand by 50,000 kWh. That corresponds to almost 5 t CO₂.
Environmentally friendly production
In Production, HAMM generally uses only low-solvent paints now. Plus, through collaboration with suppliers, the level of solvent in the paint has been reduced further in recent years. Alongside these measures, painting robots and an automatic conveyor system support low-emission painting.
HAMM also sets high standards for its suppliers and any companies that dispose of waste, paint residue, oils and other substances requiring careful handling. Purchasing therefore considers the environmental responsibility of its materials, the environmental certification of the companies and regularly audits the suppliers and service providers with a particular focus on their environmental protection measures.
Boosting the circular economy, saving resources
HAMM takes advantage of the circular economy in all areas. That starts with separating all the waste that cannot currently be avoided and collecting it in waste containers as effectively as possible. Ultimately, only 6% or so of the residual material ends up in landfill. In addition to this, HAMM no longer uses disposable cleaning cloths in Production, having replaced these with an eco-friendly reusable system.
HAMM is also mindful of its water consumption. This has significantly reduced in recent years, partly by means of collaborating with the manufacturer of the machining centres that are used to machine the drums.
HAMM is also striving to render production paperless. There have already been many important steps taken towards this goal. And, when it comes to documentation for machines, the roller manufacturer is also moving away from paper to electronic documents. Through the ‘Print on Demand’ system, only that which is actually needed is printed these days. This enabled HAMM to reduce the number of pages it printed in recent years by more than 60%.
Logistics: Intelligent solutions instead of material transport
HAMM’s main plant in Tirschenreuth is set up as a ‘short journeys plant’ to minimise travel distances. This need to keep distances short was taken into account right from the design stage. For zero-emissions internal transport, HAMM is currently switching all diesel-powered forklift trucks to quiet electric versions one by one, and uses electrically operated vans.
A complex system of logistics using 4PL organises and optimises the supply of purchased parts and semi-finished products to minimise the number of empty runs involved in the supply chain. Further to this, special transport racks have been developed to transport more parts in a smaller space. This not only reduces the amount of packaging but also the number of trips needed.
Economical right from the start
Economical use of resources is also a guiding principle within Machine Development. Consequently, during manufacture, the teams are particularly focused on keeping material consumption low, among other things. One good example of this is the optimisation of the metal plate cutting. Thanks to intelligent shaping and modern machining processes, the metal plates are utilised as efficiently as possible, to keep offcuts to a minimum.