[Tech Report] ABB Boosts Resource Efficiency by Extending the Value of Industrial Assets

The competition in resource efficiency across industries is expanding from a focus on reducing raw material and energy use to a focus on long-term use of existing equipment and materials.

Rising resource prices and growing supply chain uncertainty are cited as the background for this shift. As a result, analysts say reducing the input of new resources and using resources at industrial sites over the long term and more efficiently are emerging as new competitive factors.

ABB said that, as a way to improve resource efficiency, attention should be paid to the lifecycle value of industrial assets. It emphasized an approach that extends the use period as an alternative to full replacement by optimizing maintenance and modernization timing based on equipment condition monitoring.

It also proposed extending value by recovering and recycling end-of-life parts and materials. This is interpreted as an approach that manages the entire lifecycle of industrial assets, delays replacement, and connects value through recovery and recycling.

ABB said automation, electrification, and digital technologies are expected to play a key role in implementing this circular structure on site.

As the importance of the circular economy expands across global industry, WEF, Bain & Company, and the University of Cambridge released a report last November on 10 manufacturing-focused industries. The report reflected a survey of about 500 global executives, and 95% of respondents said they expected the importance of the circular economy to their companies to increase within the next 3 years.

WEF pointed to growing geopolitical uncertainty around rare earths and critical minerals. It also highlighted increasing supply chain volatility. Against this backdrop, WEF emphasized the circular economy as an industrial strategy for supply chain resilience, competitiveness, and growth.

Amid this trend, ABB has set "Preserving Resources" as one of the core pillars of its sustainability strategy. ABB is expanding circular economy activities centered on maintaining the long-term value of products and industrial assets.

ABB has set a target of 80% alignment with the circularity framework score for product-based revenue by 2030.

ABB operates its own program and is promoting a parts circularity system aimed at extending the life of industrial components. The program also includes recovering materials from parts that are no longer suitable for continued use.

A representative example is the Energy Industries Service Parts Circularity Program. Under this program, electronic components collected from customer sites are assessed for condition.

Parts that can be repaired are reused after refurbishment or remanufacturing. By contrast, parts that are difficult to repair are sent to specialized recycling partners for material recovery.

As a result of this program, landfill electronic waste fell from 214.5 kg in 2020 to 14.2 kg in 2023. Accordingly, landfill electronic waste was reduced by 93%.

In addition, 86.5% of materials were recycled even from parts that could not be restarted. As of the end of 2025, assessments covering 46% of product-based revenue had been completed, and the alignment score stood at 27%.

ABB also operates a "Takeback and Recycling Program" for end-of-life motors and drives. Customers receive ABB voucher credits for returned equipment, and those credits can be used to purchase new equipment, make upgrades, or renew services. This creates a structure in which the residual value of retired equipment is reinvested in new equipment and energy efficiency improvements.

ABB works with regional specialist recycling partners to run this program. Retired equipment is processed near the customer, reducing logistics burdens and transportation costs.

This approach was also applied at Novelis' Swiss plant. Novelis is an aluminum rolling and recycling company, and ABB modernized the automation system and power equipment for the cold rolling mill at Novelis' Sierre, Switzerland, plant last year. The Sierre plant produces aluminum parts for automobiles.

The modernization process did not involve a full replacement. Instead, energy efficiency, high-speed operation performance, and speed control functions were improved, and the removed existing motors and transformers were processed through ABB's takeback and recycling program. These removed existing motors and transformers were transferred to a facility operated by local recycler Thommen Group.

ABB recorded a material recovery rate of 99.4% at the demolition equipment stage. The remaining 0.6% was sent to a waste-to-energy facility. As a result, it achieved zero landfill waste.

ABB applied technologies to extend the life of retired equipment in this process and also applied resource recovery technologies. ABB is also expanding these applications to large-scale production of circular materials.

In this context, ABB and the Swedish recycling materials company Syre launched a technology collaboration on "textile-to-textile" in March. Polyester is a globally common textile material. However, polyester has traditionally been produced from fossil fuel-based feedstocks.

Syre is using waste textile feedstock in Vietnam. Based on this, it is pushing for industrial-scale production of circular polyester and for reducing dependence on new fossil feedstocks.

ABB is considering applying a DCS to this process. It is also considering digital industrial software and its electrification portfolio.

Through this, ABB plans to improve quality control and automation in the production process for recycled materials. It also plans to improve power infrastructure, enhance operating efficiency, and support expansion in production scale.

ABB said that while the industrial sector's traditional focus on resource efficiency had been on reducing energy and raw material inputs in production, the important factor going forward is extending the period during which already投入 assets create value. ABB said the standard for resource efficiency is expanding beyond input reduction alone to a direction in which assets used once are used for longer and with greater value.

To this end, ABB said it supports efficiency improvements in new equipment based on automation, electrification, and digital technologies, while also supporting productivity improvements and life extension for existing assets, as well as recycling of end-of-life resources. It added that the ability to efficiently manage the entire lifecycle of already投入 resources will be a key condition that determines future industrial competitiveness.

Source: TECHWORLD · Lee Gwang-jae
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=406606

References

• https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=406606