Monday, May 19, 2025

Mitsubishi Electrical, NTT Com and SK C&C start take a look at undertaking geared toward visualizing provide chain carbon footprints

Leveraging the Catena-X auto business information ecosystem, will facilitate world intercompany information collaboration

Mitsubishi Electrical, NTT Communications and SK C&C introduced at this time that they are going to start a groundbreaking take a look at undertaking on June 1st geared toward attaining the automated calculation and visualization of product carbon footprints throughout total provide chains. This initiative, using the Catena-X information ecosystem, the primary open and collaborative information ecosystem designed particularly for the automotive business, will leverage cutting-edge know-how to facilitate the safe, protected and seamless trade of knowledge between corporations. The objective is to determine a system that precisely captures and quantifies greenhouse fuel emissions. The undertaking moreover goals to boost productiveness and enhance high quality whereas additionally selling decarbonization via decreased power consumption, finally contributing to the conclusion of a sustainable society.

1.  Background

The manufacturing business produces all kinds of merchandise to fulfill a various vary of buyer wants, striving on the similar time to boost productiveness and high quality. As international locations and companies worldwide more and more decide to the United Nations’ Sustainable Improvement Targets (SDGs), there may be elevated give attention to environmental conservation. Manufacturing corporations are responding by figuring out and quantifying their greenhouse fuel emissions and by working to cut back their power consumption and decarbonize their operations.

Nonetheless, the demand for decarbonization is increasing past particular person enterprises to embody total provide chains. Suppliers at the moment are required to share calculated carbon footprints by product kind and supply vacation spot with companion corporations, whereas making certain information sovereignty—the precise of knowledge suppliers to find out, at their very own discretion, how their information is disclosed and used. That is essential for advancing the visibility of product carbon footprints throughout total provide chains, and to assist obtain this, decentralized information integration platforms known as “information areas” have been developed. These present standardized frameworks that facilitate belief and permit information to be shared securely and immediately between corporations, organizations, industries, and even international locations, minimizing reliance on third events.

Corporations within the European automotive business, particularly are embracing initiatives that facilitate environment friendly inter-company information sharing, making use of the Catena-X information ecosystem. In response to those developments, Mitsubishi Electrical, NTT Com and SK C&C have joined forces to launch this take a look at undertaking, using the identical Catena-X information ecosystem, aiming to determine a system that permits the automated calculation and visualization of product carbon footprints.

2.  Undertaking define

To visualise the carbon footprint by particular person product throughout a whole provide chain, the mandatory information have to be collected from manufacturing websites world wide in accordance with internationally acknowledged requirements governing inter-company information collaboration. Throughout this take a look at undertaking, information gathered from manufacturing tools through programmable logic controllers—specialised industrial computer systems used to automate the management of equipment and processes—might be used to calculate and visualize product carbon footprints.

The collaborating corporations will develop and function an experimental surroundings that includes system-to- system information communication capabilities aligned with the requirements of the Catena-X information ecosystem. This setup will function a prototype for the environment friendly visualization of product carbon footprints throughout total provide chains.

Period From June 1 to late October 2025 (tentative dates).
Goals
  • To gather from manufacturing tools info equivalent to energy, air, and manufacturing information wanted for the calculation of carbon footprints, and set up a system for automated footprint calculation and visualization by product on the tools stage.
  • To develop a way for securely and seamlessly integrating the carbon footprint calculation outcomes with the Catena-X commonplace.
Examined course of The manufacturing technique of lithium-ion batteries, a key part of electrical automobiles.
Verification Circulate
  1. A system might be arrange simulating the take a look at undertaking with an assumed situation involving a car producer and a lithium-ion battery provider.
  2. On the lithium-ion battery provider, information from the stacking course of tools might be obtained utilizing programmable logic controllers and loaded into the calculation & monitoring software program to calculate the carbon footprint. The stacking course of is likely one of the manufacturing phases for lithium-ion batteries. It entails layering the cathode, separator and anode in sequence to kind the fundamental construction of the battery.
  3. The carbon footprint calculations might be fed into the Catena-X in a regular format and mechanically saved.
  4. The car producer will request the product carbon footprint calculation from the lithium-ion battery provider. The information might be fed into the calculation & monitoring software program to calculate the carbon footprint of the completed car.

The information might be exchanged utilizing system-to-system communication features which can be appropriate with Catena-X commonplace protocols and information codecs. This can guarantee communication is managed in accordance with Catena-X requirements, enabling seamless information collaboration whereas preserving information sovereignty.

Roles
  • Mitsubishi Electrical will present a simulated surroundings at manufacturing websites and drive information assortment and associated improvement efforts.
  • NTT Com will provide system-to-system information communication features compliant with Catena-X commonplace communication protocols and information codecs, and supply a safe, IT surroundings for the take a look at undertaking that simulates inter-company information circulate.
  • SK C&C will present instruments that mechanically calculate and monitor product carbon footprints on the tools stage utilizing the collected information.
Mitsubishi Electrical, NTT Com and SK C&C start take a look at undertaking geared toward visualizing provide chain carbon footprints
EDC: Eclipse Dataspace Connector – software program that controls the communication mandatory for interconnection with Catena-X. OPC UA (unified structure): a platform-independent communication commonplace established by the OPC Basis in the US.

Take a look at undertaking circulate

Carbon footprint calculation & monitoring display screen picture

3. Future views

Assuming profitable completion of this take a look at undertaking, the three corporations intention to supply this method throughout the manufacturing sector, with a selected give attention to the automotive business. The objective might be to advertise the widespread adoption of product carbon footprint visualization all through total provide chains. By increasing the variety of implementing corporations, the intention might be to boost manufacturing processes and scale back power consumption, thereby serving to to spur the creation of a extra sustainable world surroundings.

4. Feedback from collaborating corporations

Takahisa Tanaka, Group Senior Vice President of Manufacturing facility Automation Methods and Senior Normal Supervisor of Nagoya Works, Mitsubishi Electrical

Our firm provides a variety of manufacturing unit automation tools, together with software program services that leverage digital applied sciences, with the intention of realizing a extra snug and enriched society via superior automation. By way of this pilot undertaking performed with NTT Com and SK C&C, we have now demonstrated that the synergy between our management applied sciences and their respective safe information communication infrastructure and carbon footprint calculation strategies can empower enterprises to speed up their carbon neutrality efforts. These decarbonization initiatives, pushed by state-of-the-art automation, contribute to the conclusion of a sustainable society.

Takahide Ogawa, Senior Vice President and Head of Fifth Enterprise Options Division, NTT Com

As a market chief in social and industrial digital transformation, we’re devoted to connecting individuals, communities and companies to create new worth and assist obtain a affluent society. We’re honored to have the ability to take part on this take a look at undertaking, which can play a key position in realizing a sustainable industrial society. Reaching decarbonization and different SDGs requires particular person components to be linked and knowledge to be leveraged throughout world provide chains. By way of this take a look at undertaking we intention to implement a dependable world inter-company information collaboration system, finally extending to the broader manufacturing sector. This initiative will assist our world prospects make the most of our options with confidence and facilitate the conclusion of interconnected, sustainable industrial networks.

Harvey Kim, Head of Manufacturing and International Enterprise, SK C&C

This take a look at undertaking will provide a possibility for corporations in Japan and Korea to boost their ESG initiatives by sharing the expertise and experience our three corporations have cultivated over time. As a dependable digital ESG companion, we’re dedicated to actively supporting Japanese corporations as they discover options to decarbonization. We’ll proceed to broaden our efforts to assist them navigate these challenges and obtain their sustainability objectives.

SOURCE: Mitsubishi Electrical

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