Metals manufacturing -will it be possible in a clean environment?

by Sreekumar Raghavan
Innovation is the key for growth in industry and as a PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey of 1200 CEOs revealed, 'innovation – in the form of developing new products and services – has become as important to growth for CEOs as raising their share of existing markets' . But it looks like CEO and industry leaders need to think beyond developing the market share of their products and services and just become globally competititve companies. The companies are now talking about sustainability goals where in they point out energy reduction initiatives, reducing carbon foot print through recycling and environment-friendly measures. However, the image that manufacturing and mining is inherently polluting still lingers on worldwide.

However, a new idea that industry, people and environment can co-exist peacefully has been mooted by an industry- University-led initiative in Finland. Metso Corporation, a leading provider of technology, equipments and services to metals and mining industry has mooted the idea of a 'Good Mill' which it terms as a visionary concept, based on real needs and opportunities.  Metso has colloborated with Aalto University and Aalto Tongji Design Factory to implement the Good Mill project which is still in the conceptual stage.

China's Chongming Island in Shanghai is their inspiration.It is the third largest Island in China which is predominantly dependent on agriculture. However, a master plan for the island envisages development of tourism, resorts, exhibition centers, forestry and no large-scale industry. 

To meet the goal, the 1,200-square-kilometre island will be divided into five areas, with a special function for each. The eastern part of the island, which boasts the Dongtan wetlands, a resting place for birds migrating between Siberia and Australia, will be reserved as whole as a showcase of the island's friendly ecological environment. The central area of the island, currently the location of Chongming Dongping Forest Park, will further expand its forest and renovating the area into Shanghai's largest public recreational area.  The north part, close to Jiangsu Province, will scheduled for large-scale theme parks and stadiums, with certain land reserved for the development of ecological agriculture.

Here is what Metso has to say on their 'visionary project'

”The goal is to create a foundation for an ecological, urban community in which industry is an integral element in the heart of the metropolis,” says Petteri Venetjoki from Metso Industrial Design Center.

In the project the students photographed the environment, interviewed people, visited kindergartens, and workplaces. They studied the culture, waste management, industrial architecture, flow of goods, and alternative business models. In the plan, waste management, recycling and energy production are handled on the residents’ terms without compromising comfort and ecology aspects.

At this point, the goal of the Good Mill project is concept planning. During the project the team created a bold, futuristic design of a mill that would take people’s needs into account, a mill that would spring up in the middle of the conurbation. The mill is like an urban facility where the waste and wastewater produced by people are processed into energy or new products. The processing of waste produces value, "upcycling," which is more than just recycling.

Although the Good Mill is imaginary, the processes of its industrial operation are real. Metso technology related to recycling, bioenergy, and papermaking has been utilized that is suited to the urban environment. The students were assisted in adapting the technologies by Metso experts in paper machines, energy, and water treatment.

 ”The goal is to create a foundation for an ecological, urban community,” Petteri Venetjoki from Metso Industrial Design Center. 

Venetjoki believes that the Good Mill offers us a model with which we can test whether the world is moving in the direction presented here. Metso can draw on elements of the design for the development of both urban paper mills and biofuels production processes.

”The Good Mill project has been very successful in its mission to develop a future factory concept that is based on a completely new way of thinking and is part of the heart of the Chinese eco-city. Tight collaboration between Metso’s experts and both universities has been the key to success in the project,” says Professor Kalevi Ekman, Director, Aalto Design Factory.

This contrasts with the PriceWaterHouseCooopers (PwC) survey on innovation in industry which only talks about new product, innovations, re-inventing products, services and brands. "Innovation is a matter of survival for companies in sectors facing rapid changes in technology and high customer expectations," said John Sviokla, partner and Business Leader for Innovation and Strategy at PwC US.  "Forward-looking companies strive for innovations that will give them competitive advantage and create growth.  In today's fast-moving environment companies must constantly improve and re-invent their products, services and even brands.

"The next decade will be the 'most innovative time' since the industrial revolution due to the dynamics of over a billion new customers, global connectivity, and radical new technologies and science," Sviokla said. "In mature markets companies must innovate to differentiate themselves; in emerging markets, they need innovation to lessen their dependence on lower costs."  Good Mill of Metso and Chongming Island of China gives more hope than all the grandiose market expansion plans of major companies and their ceo's.