Alongside economic growth, with significant environmental demands, the emphasis on economic and ecological responsibility of industry representatives is rapidly increasing.
Modern enterprises are increasingly implementing eco-solutions such as, reducing the emission of environmentally unfriendly gases, because being ‘ECO’ is not only a requirement or a trend but is economically justified.
“ECO’s prefix in terms of ecology is an everyday reality. As understood by SECO/WARWICK, it is the entire ecosystem based on improvement of the environmental management system and compliance with legal requirements regarding environmental protection. It is a chain of related projects, such as new energy-efficient lighting, which has brought 60 percent savings for the company, or the installation of an energy metering system with energy management software,” says Katarzyna Sawka, Global Marketing Director at SECO/WARWICK Group.
It is a model of an economic and ecological approach in solutions for heat treatment of metals developed by SECO/WARWICK. The first example is the contemporary method technology of gas nitriding – Zero Flow®, which enables reduced costs and therefore energy of technological manufacturing processes as a result of increasing the durability of processed parts and low temperature processes. Systems based on the ZeroFlow® method are defined by competitive investment and operating costs as well as high reliability indicators.
Another technology permitted by SECO/WARWICK – Vortex® ensures the production of the highest quality aluminium sheet coils, while reducing the cycle time by 20-30 percent compared to other technologies currently available on the market. These energy-efficient furnaces are characterised by uniformity of 3 degrees Celsius, restricting the time necessary for heating without overheating the edges of the coils.
Additionally, this time from the segment of products for heat treatment in vacuum, is the UniCase Master, which is another technology that questions conventional case hardening methods with low precision and accuracy. UniCase Master® is dedicated to modern mass production of mechanical transmission elements in regards to a continuous, economical and automated production process, shortened to even 30 seconds, enables customers to achieve throughput of up to 1 million parts every year.
Examples of combining both approaches can be multiplied. SECO/WARWICK has a lot in its portfolio concerning technology with an ECO factor in terms of ecology and economics.
The ‘ECO’ approach is also spotted in the Professional Technical Services package offered by SECO/WARWICK. The SECONOMY and SECOLUTION programs are tools that are part of the ECO / SECO ideology.
The first of them allows customers to decrease heat losses up to 50 percent, reduce gas consumption up to 40 percent or generate operating savings of whole equipment and production up to 50 percent.
SECOLUTION is a set of tools for analysis and optimisation processes of heat treatment departments. Thanks to this solution, you can control and make better use of the existing machine park to build a competitive advantage.
The growing strength of the ECO idea circulates on an international scale, including the world of the heat treatment of metals. Savings and benefits in the form of competitive advantage resulting from the use of eco-solutions, i.e. economic and ecological simultaneously, are noted by a wider group of representatives of heavy industry. The notable experts will explain the effects of implementing eco-solutions during this year’s, 21st edition of the SECO/WARWICK Seminar “Heat Treatment 4.0”.