Sustainability
3D printing provides opportunities for more sustainable production because it cuts down on waste and the use of raw materials. The combination of a digital inventory with the local 3D printing facilities will cut back on logistics and transportation.
With Equinor’s digital inventory, we can purchase and order a specific part from all over the world. By purchasing a part via the cloud there will be no need for transportation over far distances. The physical part can be produced when the need arises, where you need it.
The plan for the next 3-5 years is to reduce the physical storage by 25%. In 10 years, our goal is to reduce it by 50%. This equates to many tonnes of equipment. Today, this inventory works as insurance in case something happens, and we need a part quickly to assure business. This opens for a completely different mindset that allows us to take out big profits: Fewer raw materials, less consumption, reduced costs/taxation, and reduced er CO2 emissions.
Case example 1: From 4.4 tons of CO2 emissions to only 3.8 kg
Occasionally things break and need fixing at the installations. One example was the broken cooling fan for an electrical motor at Tjeldbergodden, an industrial facility located in the north-western part of the municipality of Møre and Romsdal.
The normal procedure would be to replace the whole motor since the fan was an obsolete spare part. In Norway, this can typically cost about 4.4 tons of CO2 emissions, if you calculate the consumption of raw materials and add the transportation to deliver the fan to the correct location. However, by ordering a fan from the digital inventory and printing it using a local supplier, we will not only reduce cost but reduce CO2 emissions to 3.8 kg of CO2 emissions.
Case example 2: Using recycled materials
The Johan Castberg ship is currently lying at Stord in western Norway in preparation for operation. To avoid delays in this critical phase of the project a mobile 3D printing micro factory has been hired from the Norwegian company Fieldmade and is lying at the docks, a few meters from the hull of the ship. The metal powder used in the 3D printer is 100% recycled scrap metal.
The recycled material is supplied by F3nice, an Italian start-up company that was supported by the Equinor Techstars Energy program, and works within the circular economy for additive manufacturing. They perform a sustainable and innovative process to transform metal scrap into metal powder for 3D printing.