Blogs

We returned back home from Ligna 2015 and our Baltic Sea Roundtrip more than a month ago. It's time to analyze and report what we discovered and what the consequences might be for Finnish CHP producers.

1. Reduce energy costs
2. Integration into existing systems
3. Energy production from biomass waste
4. Technologies for power generation
5. How to produce process energy
6. Moving innovative solutions into efficient use
7. Environmentally friendly production models
8. Setting new standards in biomass firing

Various firing systems are available for burning biomass (e.g. wood chips, bark, wood dust, grain husks, empty fruit bunches).

• Grate firing
• Fluidised bed firing
• Dust firing

Higher performance values can be achieved by combining several technologies in the same plant.

The utilization for wood will triple until 2050. Wood for Energy is a growth sector. My concern is, where are we going to find all the raw-material needed. Are we going towards a stronger fertilization of woodlands to ensure sufficient growth?

The German furniture industry is talking about an intensive NETWORKING of furniture manufacturing to ensure and advance productivity.

Industry 4.0 - the fourth industrial revolution - is promoted as a medicine for all industrial segments wanting to stay competitive. The alternative being that all production is moving to low labor cost countries, away from Europe and into BRIC countries.

The manufacturing processes have to go through a radical change. The big question is, are the SMEs able to invest in new and advanced technologies, using robots, automation, digitalization and advanced networking?

What are the effects of radical automation and robotization on the labor market? How about data and process security? What will be the price tag for the upcoming investments? How flexible can the Industry 4.0 be made and organized to meet customers' individualized needs and desires?

These questions have been discussed in Hannover before and during the Ligna 2015. The discussion of the fourth industrial revolution continues now at company headquarters around the globe.

How is Finnish manufacturing going to respond?

I look around at the shelfs in my office. There are books and binders, newspapers, magazines, reports, brochures, leaflets and printouts from Internet pages. It's difficult to decide what's necessary and which information should be taken or thrown away.

The differentiation of garbage and valuable information isn't easy. I've been struggling with "information overflow" issues for decades.

Our recent Baltic Sea Region tour didn't make life easier. We learned a lot about both business and regional development perspectives and collected "tons of new valuable" information.

My task for the coming six to ten months is to focus on the new available information and write intelligence reports to support business growth and profitability of our clients.