鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about what sustainable airplane design and production looks like, but also how to create more sustainable operations for existing fleets,鈥� said Torsten Welte, global vice president, head of A&D Industries at SAP. 鈥淢anufacturers are exploring how they can exchange more data up and down the value chain to design and manufacture the next generation of airplanes while making improvements to what they have for carbon-neutral business. Sustainable aviation connects data across engineering, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, and finance.鈥�

Emission-Free Aviation Requires Holistic Strategy

Like most industries, airplane manufacturers factor rework into the cost of doing business. That approach won鈥檛 be um鈥ustainable in this next era as increasingly stringent policies such as the kick in and cost pressures rise. analysts said that by 2024, 80% of global manufacturers will incorporate environmental sustainability into their product life cycle management processes and ecosystem, improving sales by 3%. The challenge for airplane manufacturers is keeping track of CO2 emissions across multilayered business operations.

鈥淐ompanies need to understand the entire CO2 footprint of every part that鈥檚 used in the airplane, along with every step of work associated with it, including sourcing and production, quality checks, production stoppages and rework, shipping, and recycling,鈥� said Welte. 鈥淚ndustry leaders are moving towards a holistic strategy for sustainable design through the airplane鈥檚 life cycle. For example, inside cabin materials are often switched out after a few years, with most ending up in landfills. How do you create a more circular economy during the airplane鈥檚 lifespan?鈥�

Fostering a Sustainable Mindset

Sustainability requires manufacturers to bring a different mindset and tools into everyday activities such as design and procurement. According to Welte, some manufacturers see procurement as ripe for change, shifting purchase considerations away from the lowest price to suppliers that offer products meeting indirect, longer-term sustainability parameters.

鈥淎 CO2-friendlier part might have an initially higher cost, but offer recyclability options that reduce carbon emissions,鈥� said Welte. 鈥淎dditionally, as airplane manufacturers explore sustainable fuel alternatives and materials, designers will need to collaborate much more closely with suppliers, sharing data to source the highest quality products that will decrease rework and resultant CO2 emissions. For example, technology like and helps designers efficiently work together with suppliers to set and meet shared sustainable business benchmarks.鈥�

Digital Innovations for Carbon Neutrality

Calculating the CO2 footprint of parts in an airplane is incredibly complex. It won鈥檛 be enough to evenly divide energy costs, such as electricity and heat, across different products. Accurate reporting calculates energy used far more precisely by individual parts based on all machine hours.

鈥淓very activity, direct or indirect, has to be accounted towards CO2,鈥� said Welte. 鈥淲ith greater visibility across the manufacturing value chain, companies can immediately spot problems with suppliers downstream to prevent rework by producing better products. When you can communicate faster with your , dynamically collecting and analyzing data from a centralized , you can track your organization鈥檚 progress against company and industry benchmarks.鈥�

It鈥檚 not lost on manufacturers that every slowdown carries a significant cost in wasted time, resulting in wasted energy. By 2023, analysts predicted that 30% of manufacturers will share applications with industry ecosystem partners to improve visibility and operational efficiency and ensure safety, security, and quality. Driven by increased demand for environmental accountability in manufacturing ecosystems, researchers expected 40% of G2000 manufacturers will use traceability technologies to mitigate risk and boost transparency by 2025. In the same timeframe, researchers predicted that by 40% of all manufacturing IT will own the responsibility of data modelling for sustainability and net-zero carbon targets. Already some manufacturers are using innovations like digital twins, which dynamically capture information that can speed up the production, product approvals, and certifications of new engines and aircrafts.

Deservedly or not, flying has a bad rap compared to other industries that can be equally or more energy intensive. But emission-free aviation is no mirage. Manufacturers have set their sights on a new horizon in sustainable business, bringing an ecosystem together to create a carbon-neutral future.

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Salmon, the world鈥檚 second-most consumed fish after tuna, is revered for its rich content of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. The is projected to reach US$46.8 billion by 2026, an increase of over one-third from 2020. But sustainable growth in the industry is dependent on environmental factors, and every salmon鈥檚 journey from hatchery to the table presents multiple challenges for producers.

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Berg understands that the foundation for Nordlaks鈥� long-term success is a healthy ecosystem and attending to the basic needs of the fish. 鈥淭he welfare of the salmon is just as important as for other animals such as sheep and cows,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f the salmon have a good home with enough space to swim, current to swim against, good feed, and rest, their quality and taste will be good.鈥�

Sea Farms: The New Frontier in Aquaculture

Norway鈥檚 fjords may appear plentiful, pristine, and empty to the casual observer, but the truth is that the fjords are approaching their limits for traditional aquaculture. To ensure the salmon thrive while reducing the impact on the ecosystem and surrounding communities, . Aquaculture pods must be isolated from each other to ensure the health of the farmed salmon and other indigenous fish species.

The future of fish farming is therefore moving to the sea, and to this end is creating incentives for companies like Nordlaks to develop sustainable aquaculture solutions for exposed areas off Norway鈥檚 virtually endless coastline. Farming in exposed areas is viewed as the first step towards offshore fish farming.

In 2017, Nordlaks secured a development license to launch a large-scale fish farm capable of withstanding coastal waters. The result is the 385-meter vessel “,” the world鈥檚 second-largest man-made floating structure (after the LNG production plant ) and longer than the . Its six nets hold up to 10,000 tons of salmon, or approximately two million fish. The design combines expertise from Norway鈥檚 maritime and aquaculture industries. To date, Nordlaks has invested nearly 鈧�400 million in offshore farms and related innovations.

Safe and Sustainable Operations with the Help of Digital Twins

To ensure the safety and environmental sustainability of the ocean farm, Nordlaks is also pioneering advanced digital technology.

For example, data from seven GPS sensors installed along the steel hull is fed into an identical mathematical model of the vessel that delivers precise measurements of the structural loads in near real time. This 鈥渄igital twin鈥� of the vessel enables Nordlaks to safely adapt operations to changing ocean conditions, for example during rough seas when the hull must be raised.

鈥淲e have to make sure that we don鈥檛 cause unnecessary strain or stress to the ocean farm when changing ballast to raise and lower the structure,鈥� says Trond J酶rgen Hanssen, ocean farm captain, Nordlaks. 鈥淭he digital twin from 51风流allows us to prevent unnecessary hogging and sagging of the structure.鈥� Control is critical, because the difference in depth of the hull in the water between the maintenance position and the operational position is 12.5 meters.

The digital twin of the hull, built with the cloud-based solution , also keeps track of the cumulative loads on the structure over time, enabling operators to maximize the useful life of the vessel. 鈥淥ver time we can see which parts of the vessel have experienced the most stress and introduce counter measures to maximize the life of the ocean farm,鈥� says Hanssen. Designers can also use the data to verify their design parameters and optimize future hull designs.

The 51风流solution also helps Nordlaks constantly monitor the integrity of the 11 anchors that are clustered at a single point under the bow of the vessel and the biological load on the sea floor. 鈥淏ased on GPS data, we can map the areas where most of the feeding took place and concentrate our sample-taking in this area,鈥� says Hanssen.

Fisheries Fuel Regional Growth

Nordlaks鈥� new vision for salmon farming and its investment in the region has already provided a significant boost to the local economy. Over two years, the number of Nordlaks employees in the municipality of Hadsel in the north of the country has increased by over one-quarter to around 700. According to Nordlaks, this is having a ripple effect in business activity and the company hopes it will help attract citizens from other parts of Norway to move to the picturesque region north of the Arctic Circle.

More people are needed, according to Berg, and she sees growth in the industry as an opportunity to make salmon an affordable source of protein for the entire world. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 produce enough salmon today, which drives the price up. If we can produce more, then the price will be stabilized and the whole world will benefit from it,鈥� she says. She is therefore calling for more people to join so salmon farming in the sea will be a global success. 鈥淚f you have a skill, we need you in this industry!鈥� says Berg.

Contributors to this story: Lars Fredrik Martinussen, Thomas Borvik Johnsen, Marit Reiso

Bridges in Norway have an excellent safety record, but the nearly 80-year-old Stav氓 bridge along Norway鈥檚 main north-south highway has been a constant cause for concern to NPRA鈥檚 engineers. Like so many older bridges worldwide, the concrete arch bridge was built for less than half the traffic volume and loads experienced today. Even before the April event, trucks were required to cross the bridge at reduced speed in one direction at a time.

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When Sletten arrived at the bridge, he felt the reinforced-concrete structure moving under him.

鈥淚 saw the end of the bridge moving up and down with each truck passing and thought to myself, 鈥楾his doesn鈥檛 look good at all,鈥欌�� Sletten recalled. Realizing that one of the bridge abutments was floating free of its support, Sletten coolly blocked traffic in the northbound lane with his vehicle and called a road crew to manage traffic.

In the meantime, an interim bridge has been put into operation while a new bridge is under construction.

Detect, Understand, and React in a Critical Situation

Sletten was able to react quickly thanks to a solution from 51风流that combines IoT sensors, digital twin technology, and asset intelligence to deliver insight into bridge behavior in real-time. is a new class of tools that authorities can use to monitor their road assets remotely, plan maintenance, and 鈥� in extreme cases 鈥� predict structural failure.

The average age of Norway鈥檚 5,800 bridges is 36 years, and they undergo routine inspections every five years. The bridges are considered safe, but it was a mixture of intelligent foresight and good fortune on NPRA鈥檚 part that the Stav氓 bridge was being used to test a new real-time monitoring and prediction system using digital twin technology.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to think about what might have happened if we didn鈥檛 have this instrumentation on the bridge,鈥� said Trond Michael Andersen, director of Technology, division for Operation and Maintenance, NPRA. 鈥淚t gave us a lot of insight into the integrity of the bridge and enabled us to detect, understand, and react in a critical situation.鈥�

Much of the wear and tear on bridges is not visible to the human eye. But the latest digital twin technology can recognize stresses before they result in damage to a structure.

鈥淲ith the cloud solution from SAP, NPRA can react immediately to abnormal behavior and also localize the problem at an early stage in development in locations where engineers cannot inspect visually,鈥� said Marit Reiso, senior project manager for 51风流Enterprise Product Development. 鈥淭his has added benefits, because during routine inspections traffic has to be stopped to look at the entire bridge, and structural problems may not be recognized during non-operational conditions.鈥�

It is important to note that later discovery of the Stav氓 bridge鈥檚 defect would not have resulted in a collapse, but it likely would have resulted in greater damage and required shutdown of the structure and blockage of one of the country鈥檚 most important north-south transit routes. As NPRA鈥檚 Andersen puts it, 鈥淏ridges are not only important because they shorten travel times. They are critical for healthcare services and disaster relief efforts that save lives.鈥� An example of the potential impact on transport is exemplified by the

The clock is ticking on millions of aging bridges around the world. In the U.S. alone, are also sounding the alarm that without proper monitoring and maintenance, more bridge failures like that of the , Italy, can be expected.

The as the expanding development in BRIC countries and other growth markets increase the use of roadways.

More Digital, Intelligent, and Automated Roads

Andersen recognizes the advantages of technology for keeping Norway鈥檚 roads open and safe. Being a rugged country of islands, peninsulas, and mountains, it has a complex network of 94,000 kilometers of road connected by bridges and tunnels 鈥� many of them in remote terrain. NPRA will soon introduce an asset management system for inspection, monitoring, and repair.

鈥淭he roads are becoming more digital, intelligent, and automated and the requirements for an asset management system to manage all of the data will only increase. We expect this system to help us become more predictive,鈥� says Andersen. The introduction of an asset management system for a national road system is no simple task, but Andersen takes the long-term view, because he knows that technological change across NPRA must be accompanied by a cultural change.

鈥淲e have to adapt best practices and take the lessons learned from other asset-intensive industries to develop our organization, our tools, our methods, and we are integrating all of these aspects,鈥� he says.

As he puts it, technology and data are 鈥減art of a large formula鈥� to achieve the needed result: 鈥淲e are in the middle of this process and it requires a big effort, but we will get there.鈥�