AFM CLUSTER AND ACLIMA WORK TOGETHER TO ACCELERATE THE GREEN TRANSITION OF THE MACHINE TOOL SECTOR IN GIPUZKOA

Aclima, Basque Environment Cluster and the Advanced Manufacturing Cluster, AFM Cluster, with funding from the Department of Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, have worked on the Green Machine collaboration project to accelerate the ecological, sustainable and fair transition in the sector and in the socio-economic ecosystem in the territory of Gipuzkoa. Through this intersectoral project, the aim has been to identify processes, technologies and services among the companies that allow a response to the priority challenges of ecological transition in the sector, mainly in everything related to the management of containers and packaging, and to environmental transparency and positioning. Without losing sight of other challenges such as the management of waste and secondary raw materials; decarbonisation with a life cycle approach; and eco-design. The aim is to identify and prioritise solutions that enable the machine tool sector and tool and industrial supply manufacturers, mainly, to improve their competitiveness, as well as to address new business opportunities within the framework of the European Green Deal or Green Pact.

As pointed out by AFM Cluster, the project aims to have an ‘impact on the industrial sectors of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country as a whole, given that both sectors are transversal and play a dual role as they are key suppliers to the rest of the priority industrial sectors in the Basque Country’. ‘The advanced services companies offer industrial companies their knowledge and experience to support the ecological transition of the economy’, ACLIMA stresses. In this sense, ‘this project is expected to have a positive impact on two key sectors (in terms of size and relevance of their activity) in Gipuzkoa and, therefore, it will be able to advance in the construction of a network of companies with a lower environmental impact and with products of greater added value in the global market’.

To achieve the objectives set, after analysing and identifying the capacities and opportunities for cooperation in companies and technological agents in the environmental sector, an iteration process has been carried out at different levels: (1) with companies in the machine tool value chain, (2) between companies in the machine tool and cutting tool sector and the Eco-industry and finally with (3) RVCYT agents. Thus, through the dynamisation of working groups, solutions and lines of work have been identified for the implementation of intersectoral cooperation initiatives and projects aimed at responding to the challenges of ecological transition in the Advanced Manufacturing sector.

Two sectoral hybridisation sessions

Thanks to the collaboration between the two sectors, a range of opportunities have opened up for the hybridisation of the environmental sector with the advanced manufacturing sector in Gipuzkoa. To this end, two sectorial hybridisation sessions were held in October with the aim of providing companies with key tools to improve their environmental positioning and transparency, including environmental management tools such as ISO and EMAS certifications, calculation of the carbon footprint of the product and organisation, tools for resource management such as water footprint and energy efficiency, eco-design and environmental labelling, and communication tools to provide information on the environmental impact of products and organisations, as well as tools for the management of resources such as water footprint and energy efficiency, eco-design and environmental labelling, and communication tools to provide information on the environmental impact of products and organisations.

In addition, in the two sessions held with the companies, RD 1055/2022 on packaging was explained in detail, as it requires an important and complex adaptation of the companies, assuming the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), the need to search for more environmentally friendly packaging, compliance with the marking regulations of each country to which they export, etc.

Through practical examples and real cases or situations, companies have been guided on how to implement the legal requirements demanded by the packaging regulations.

Advanced Manufacturing Sector

The Advanced Manufacturing sector represents an important part of industrial employment and employment in general in Gipuzkoa. In this context, AFM Cluster is the organisation that brings together the Advanced Manufacturing ecosystem in Spain, grouping together more than 800 companies that employ close to 20,000 people and have a turnover of more than 4,000 million euros.

Its main objectives are the defence of industrial activity and its positioning as an essential activity for the achievement of a more balanced and sustainable society, the promotion of collaboration and cooperation between companies to enhance synergies and foster growth, the promotion of internationalisation, technological innovation and the training of the people of its associated companies and now, especially, the digitisation of industry and the advancement of the sector towards industrialisation.

In terms of ecological and environmental transition, it is affected by regulatory measures that directly affect its suppliers (such as the metal sector) or its customers (such as the automotive sector and other manufacturing industries). In this sense, some of the most relevant changes for companies in the Advanced Manufacturing sector will come from measures that drive decarbonisation in the value chain of their customers, as well as the revision of energy taxation and other initiatives that drive decarbonisation in the MH sector itself.

The Sustainable Product Initiative and the revision of the eco-design directive will require the inclusion of circularity criteria and a digital product passport in some machine tool components (such as motors and welding equipment) and extends its scope also to the steel sector. Particularly relevant are the new obligations in terms of environmental transparency such as the taxonomy regulation, or the obligation for some companies to provide truthful and harmonised environmental information through the environmental footprint, which will require a flow of environmental information through the value chain by means of the traction of the sector's clients (automotive, transport, aerospace, etc.).

It is important to highlight that customers in the machine tool sector are participating in reputational schemes and decarbonisation initiatives, such as CDP, SBTI and Race to Zero, which have great potential to engage the value chain in improvement efforts. This means that AFM Cluster companies will need to have the environmental information required by their customers to comply with these initiatives and maintain their market position. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the new packaging regulations impacting the sector will force the adoption of measures to reduce the use of packaging and green purchasing requirements to minimise their impact.

Environmental sector

Care for the environment is a global need and has also consolidated itself as one of the main business and investment opportunities, becoming one of the economic sectors with the greatest growth prospects for the coming years.

Aclima, Basque Environment Cluster brings together 133 organisations in the Basque Country from all the value chains of the environmental sector, which last year had a turnover of more than 2,770 million euros, 15% more than in 2022. Direct employment in the sector grew by 7%, reaching 6,368 jobs.

With a strong commitment to research and development of new solutions and technologies, the investment effort of Aclima companies in R&D&I amounted to 287 million euros in 2023, an increase of 8% compared to 2022.