21 Dec Embracing cold forming as a sustainable solution for 2024 and beyond
As a new year dawns, companies may be starting to feel the pressures of sustainability targets looming while the road to net zero shortens. According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, manufacturing is the UK’s largest emitting industrial sector. So, the impetus is on the industry to make changes and drive initiatives to reduce emissions, waste and operate more sustainably. This affects not only manufacturers, but also the suppliers that serve the manufacturing industry – as true gains can only be made if the impetus is placed on the entire supply and value chain.
Whilst corporate buyers are increasingly considering sustainable production alternatives when purchasing parts or investing in a service, providers are having to differentiate themselves from competitors by offering low carbon production processes.
Precision cold forming is a simple, yet sustainable engineering process. It is used to manufacture components in large volumes with exceptionally high levels of quality. Using a powerful press, metal such as copper in the form of a circular billet is forced under high pressure by a punch into a cast. This takes place at high speed and at ambient temperatures, generating significantly less waste than traditional machining processes.
Cold forming can typically reduce the amount of waste metal generated during the manufacture of each component by up to 80%, when compared with CNC milling alone. For companies that have a strong commitment to sustainability and need to drive down unit cost, the benefits of material savings are vast.
Benefits of cold forming for:
Automotive – precision-cold forming is used to produce vital components for electric vehicles, making it a key enabler for a low-carbon economy. The process allows for high production rates which helps to meet the increasing demand for EVs.
Aerospace – sustainable cold forming provides enhanced accuracy, adhering to precise dimensions, essential to aerospace components that require the strictest of specifications for the purposes of safety.
Machine parts – cold forming provides the ability to create complex shapes and external profiles for machine parts that may be costly to achieve through traditional, more wasteful machining methods.
It isn’t only environmental benefits that a sustainable manufacturer can expect. Research from Make UK also found that sustainable manufacturing companies experienced an increase in business as a result, with 40% of sustainable companies reporting increased profit margins.
The US Environmental Protection Agency defines sustainable manufacturing as “the creation of manufactured products through economically-sound processes that minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources.”. Only through concerted industry efforts throughout the supply chain from sourcing, to design, to production can manufacturers start to drive environmental improvements across the board.