Growth through long-term vision

What does sustainable transformation mean for companies in the process industry right now?

At first glance, it may seem like transformation has been overshadowed by the uncertainty affecting the global economy. Nevertheless, in the long run, every company will be striving for sustainable transformation or advancing further along that road. This road may be bumpy, yet the final destination is certain.

What makes you so sure?

There’s more to sustainable transformation than reducing emissions or consumption to protect the environment. Transformation holds the key to greater competitiveness. Because at its core, transformation is about improving efficiency and opening up new markets. Of course, how exactly our customers go about this, and at what pace, varies from case to case.

What are the biggest challenges along the way to sustainable transformation for customers?

Globally, the biggest challenges are the current geopolitical instability and international trade conflicts. But there are also challenges specific to each industry. In oil and gas, it’s the need to develop new business models. The steel industry must switch to direct reduction plants. The cement industry must capture and store process-related emissions. The chemical industry is caught between a pressing need to invest and uncertain market conditions. The energy sector has to transition to renewables while maintaining security of supply. The life sciences require highly integrated plants for flexible production volumes. And the challenge in the food industry is to achieve greater resource and energy efficiency, just as in the water and wastewater industry.

To what extent is digitalization helping with the transformation?

When digitalization and sustainability are strategically aligned, they reinforce each other. That’s clear from technologies like Ethernet-APL or, for that matter, our Netilion IIoT ecosystem: Both provide real-time access to field data and make it usable – not least by AI applications. In other words, industrial companies can use digitalization to gain valuable new insights into their processing plants and hence unlock new optimization potential.

So what are customers looking for from Endress+Hauser?

Our customers want to combine sustainability with growth. And for that they need reliable partners who can work closely with them over a long period to bring about change and help them master the complexities involved. We are the right partners for this because we combine quality with industry knowledge, practical know-how, on-time delivery and digital expertise. As a family-owned company, we stand firmly for long-term commitment and stability. We are willing to learn from our customers and share experiences – because that’s the only way to anticipate future needs and develop technologies to meet them.

How is Endress+Hauser going about its own sustainable transformation?

Over 97 percent of our carbon footprint comes from up- and downstream value chains, otherwise known as Scope 3. So, decarbonizing our portfolio is a big challenge. For our part, we are rolling out Group-wide ecodesign guidelines for product development so that we can apply sustainability as a lever. When we use less material in the manufacture of our instruments and reduce their energy consumption, we create added value for customers. We can offer improved performance at a fair price, or unchanged performance at a lower price.