Europe’s car manufacturers produce 15 million vehicles each year. 10 million of these are made with steel from Stahl Judenburg, a steel company located in the unspoilt region of Styria in Austria.

Here on 24 and 25 October the partners of the EU-funded MEMAN project discussed the latest developments of their research on how to optimise the use of resources in the metal-mechanic sector.

Metal-mechanic companies typically make many different products in the same factory and with the same production lines. As a result, companies do not have precise information about how much raw materials and energy they use to make a single kind of product. Only once entrepreneurs have this knowledge can they decide the best way to reduce costs and resources in the industrial process.

Simulation of resource use

The methodology developed in MEMAN helps engineering companies to get this information with a detailed simulation of all resource flows throughout the value chain. This facilitates their strategic choice on where to introduce changes to optimise the use of their resources.

Experts are currently testing the methodology in partner companies – including Stahl Judenburg, Mondragon and Figeac Aero – in Austria, Germany, Spain and France.

Preliminary data on how much resources partner companies can save after applying the MEMAN methodology should be available at the beginning of 2018. MEMAN partners expect high resource efficiency gains from it.

Read more about the MEMAN methodology to improve resource efficiency in metal-mechanic value chains