Producing without oil and emulsions …

The increasing energy consumption worldwide influences climate change. A considerable part of the additional energy needed is supplied by expensive oil. If oil is used as a lubricant in production, this means raw material consumption, environmental pollution and disposal costs. However, EVVA’s Clean Production (CP) protects the environment and resources because it works dry, i.e. it produces without oil or emulsions. The emulsions used in production do not contain oil. They consist of approx. 97% water, the rest is a non-hazardous chemical on which fungi can also grow.
 

… and without water

EVVA Clean Production is not only oil-free, but also 100% water-free. The cleaning of the parts with chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) can thus be completely eliminated, i.e. a complete work step.
 

Clean Production:

Proportion of Clean Production machines (EVVA headquarters) in relation to the entire machinery

Triple sustainability:

Clean Production impressively demonstrates how well ecological, economic and social sustainability can complement each other.
 

Ecology:

The sustainable use of materials and resources has been defined by our stakeholders as a key topic – Clean Production by EVVA is one of the strongest levers for this. The company introduced Clean Production machines many years ago to limit material consumption. In 2021, we were able to increase our CP share to 70% of the total machinery, i.e. approx. 300 machines already produce using this technology.

In 2021, EVVA put two new clean production systems into operation, one for key cutting and one for the production of high-quality locking cylinder plugs – it was named "Constantin II" after a son of the owner family. Constantin II alone increased the CP share at EVVA by 5%. It saves 5.8 tonnes of oil/water, which is 28% of the total requirement for these two resources at the EVVA headquarters. Our purchasing costs for oil were decreased therefore by around 19,000 euros per year. This state-of-the-art Industry 4-0 system is perfectly prepared for networked applications. Processes are automated, such as the assembly. "Corona cost us some time in planning and implementation, but we are very satisfied that Constantin II is now in action. It will replace 9 previous machines!” says project manager Johann Bunzengruber.

Between 2015 and 2019, EVVA invested around 5 million euros in new CP systems. And in 2020 another 1.5 million euros. This saves us considerable resources and emissions:


One downside is that a CP machine requires about 50% more electricity than a conventional oil-based system (because of the cooling units and the higher compressed air requirement). But it can often replace not only one, but even several conventional machines. On average at EVVA, a single new CP machine replaces 3 to 5 systems previously used for the same purpose. A CP machine produces completely dry and does not require any of the usual downstream washing processes of the production parts to clean them of oil. Metal chips can also be recycled immediately without any cleaning. The higher power requirement is offset by very high raw material savings, by avoiding cleaning and waste as well as the higher production output.

Economics

He who consumes less, also must buy less. In addition to the ecological effect mentioned above, at the current 70% proportion, our Clean Production saves around 220,000 euros per year in purchasing and disposal. Our demand for oil has halved in just a few years: from approx. 15 tonnes of oil in 2010 to 6.8 tonnes of oil in 2019. In 2021, the demand decreased again to 5.7 tonnes.

Another economic advantage: CP production enables a much faster production run of the components than with conventional machines (e.g. because the workpieces do not need to be de-oiled). The Constantin II mentioned above produces a cylinder core in just 6 to 8 seconds – instead of the 30 seconds required by the many machines previously used for this purpose. After approx. 8 years, our CP machines have paid for themselves.

Social aspects:

Working with oil can cause skin irritation. So the less needed, the better for the production staff.

 

Multiple award-winning

In recent years, EVVA has been awarded the City of Vienna's Environmental Award and the TRIGOS Sustainability Award for its sustainable, Clean Production innovation. If new machines are purchased, whether they are Clean Production-capable is a decision criterion. That’s why 100% of our new machines have been equipped with this technology since 2015. Around 60% of them were designed, manufactured and assembled by our in-house mechanical engineering department. This know-how is something EVVA is particularly proud of. After all, it is even better than recycling to be able to reduce the need for resources in the best possible way.