With climate change becoming one of the most pertinent issues of the present times, the demand for sustainably manufactured products is expected to grow. Manufacturers that are early adopters of sustainable manufacturing practices will be well-positioned to meet this growing demand and achieve a competitive advantage, states Manish Bhatnagar, Managing Director, SKF India Ltd, in this interview with Rakesh Rao. With nearly three decades of experience in strategic leadership and business operations, he brings a strong global perspective along with local customer-centricity to drive execution and results. Here, Manish Bhatnagar elaborates on the criticality of sustainability in bringing about positive changes in the economy, ecology and society.

The world is rapidly changing, and environmental and climate change mitigation are critical to the long-term survival of our planet. As such, there is a growing demand for sustainable solutions across all industries. The shift towards sustainability has created a demand for environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and socially responsible products and services. Companies in various industries are adopting sustainable practices, including promoting the use of renewable energy sources, reducing waste and emissions, and incorporating environmentally friendly materials. SKF is committed to decarbonising its operations and helping customers achieve their sustainability goals and we will continue to make significant progress with our science-based net-zero targets. We strongly believe that the future of manufacturing will be defined not just by efficiency and productivity, but also by its ability to create a positive impact on the planet and its people.

Climate change is one of the most pertinent issues of our times. Our green manufacturing initiative focusses on reducing GHG emissions, conserving natural resources, and eliminating/reducing hazardous waste generation. For Instance, SKF India manufacturing sites reduced their water consumption by 10 per cent over the last year and are committed to water conservation and ensuring zero water discharge. Our sites are also proactively working on reduction in paper and plastic consumption through various packaging optimisation projects in collaboration with suppliers and customers. Major initiative was launched for the segregation of plastic and paper wastes at all manufacturing locations and offices to improve waste recycling. Last year, SKF India saved approximately 2,800 trees through the paper packaging optimisation project.

We all need to move towards a clean, responsible, net-zero, fully circular society. Roughly 20 per cent of global energy goes to overcoming friction. Together with the industry and academia we work to drive the needed changes in society by creating reliable rotation and reducing friction. Our largest contribution lies in providing clean technology solutions for the industrial transformation, and in developing more and more of our products to become lighter, more efficient, longer lasting, repairable, and, ultimately, recyclable. This in turn helps our customers reach their goals for sustainability and growth.

Through all these and many more initiatives, SKF will continue to implement sustainability initiatives to minimise the environmental impact while contributing to the long-term business goals and social responsibility.

We want to integrate sustainability into our business – in our products, services, and customer solutions. We enable our customers to move towards a circular economy by providing products, services and solutions that help improve process efficiency, reduce friction and waste, extend service life, and achieve other sustainability benefits. 

For example, through our remanufacturing capabilities, we help customers refurbish end-of-life bearings, thereby reducing consumption, industrial waste, and total cost of ownership. Remanufacturing extends the service life of bearings. It reduces environmental impact, increases asset reliability, and cuts costs. Another example is our revolutionary RecondOil box that helps customers reuse industrial oil, bringing significant financial, environmental and performance benefits. Our CO2 calculation dashboard helps customers understand carbon emissions during bearing manufacturing and life cycle and plan their decarbonisation roadmap accordingly. 

Our strength lies in our ability to continuously develop new technologies. These technologies are utilised to create value-adding solutions that provide competitive advantages to our customers while contributing to the goal of building a sustainable society.

Sustainability is at the forefront, emphasizing economic, ecological, and societal perspectives. As businesses become more aware of the importance of sustainability, the demand for sustainably manufactured products is expected to grow. Manufacturers that are early adopters of sustainable manufacturing practices will be well-positioned to meet this growing demand and achieve a competitive advantage. For manufacturers, this means embracing new and emerging technologies to ensure more efficient processes, and data-driven decision-making. Sustainability becomes a win-win for businesses and society to reduce the environmental impact as well as and reduce costs.

Several innovations such as IoT for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance, AI and machine learning for analytics and optimisation, and robotics for precision and speed, are reshaping manufacturing sector and it is crucial for Indian manufacturers to adopt these modern technologies. Technologies such as 3D printing reduces waste and expedites product development. Digital twins offer real-time simulations, while AR and VR aid training and maintenance. 

Supply chain digitization enhances transparency, sustainable energy sources cut costs, and blockchain improves traceability. Edge computing enables real-time decision-making, collaborative platforms, predictive analytics, and lean manufacturing. These innovations, when strategically integrated, empower manufacturers to enhance productivity, cut costs, improve product quality, and swiftly adapt to market changes, enhancing competitiveness.

Despite global challenges, India has achieved an impressive growth supported by local consumption and a favourable policy environment, as well as a stable political environment. Manufacturing and infrastructure-led industries are significant contributors to the current growth in GDP. India is bound to get impacted by slower global growth, however, domestic demand–led growth will provide India with the necessary momentum to post reasonably strong growth this year. We believe India will need a strong rebound in investments to attain sustainable growth. 

Also, manufacturers will get even more innovative and collaborative in their approach to reduce carbon footprint, increase efficiency, and circularity this year and next. Companies will work closely with suppliers, distributors, and consumers to create a truly circular ecosystem including joint responsibility for product lifecycle management and ensuring responsible sourcing and end-of-life solutions. 

We have an outstanding position in our industry. Our customers appreciate our consistent and excellent quality, the performance of our products and services, our broad customer offering and our global presence and wide reach. Based on our strategy of driving intelligent and clean growth, we have embarked on an exciting journey to become a more focused, innovative and profitable industrial player. We are accelerating the development of new technologies, such as solutions for electric vehicles, recycling and critical sectors. Moreover, to serve customers better and capture future growth, we are digitalizing the value chain and regionalizing the supply chain. We will continue to focus on high growth areas and sectors where our technological edge will support customers striving for a sustainable future.