Smart factories of the future

Fully digitalized operations will not only help us to quickly meet market demand for our products, but it will also build on our well-established Green Spirit program to reduce energy, water and waste throughout our operations. 

"Combining the Internet of Things (IoT), automation, data exchange and massive computer power is an exciting opportunity for Electrolux to improve efficiency in a sustainable way," says Ernesto Ferrario, Electrolux SVP Global Industrial Operations.

Since 2013, our injury rate has declined by 43% across the Group. Our current global injury rate (TCIR) of 0.58 compares favorably with other well-known benchmarks, as reported in publicly available sources.

The Smart Factory Model will enhance safety by sensing whether a person entering a restricted area is wearing the correct protective gear or alerting when someone falls over. 

Another interesting wearable that we are currently piloting at a number of plants is the Pro-glove. This protective garment, which has a built-in scanner, enables hands-free scanning of goods. This helps increase productivity while improving ergonomics. For factory operators, we are running several other pilots looking at wearable technology, such as augmented reality glasses and exoskeletons. 

Toward zero waste

The factory of the future is also one where no waste from our operations is sent to landfill. 

Our Zero Landfill program, was further expanded in 2017. Five factories were chosen to pilot the Zero Landfill program in 2017 - Siewierz (Poland), Solaro (Italy), Kinston (US), Sao Carlos (Brazil) and Adelaide (Australia). The program aims to drastically cut the amount of waste generated and find opportunities for reusing material that in the past was treated as waste.

This case study is related to our promises Achieve more with less and Ensure best health and safety.