Carbon neutrality (meaning netting CO2 emissions with absorption to near zero) and decarbonization have become common societal goals. Factory leaders and engineers are now strongly expected to reduce CO2 emissions.
However, many voices from the front lines of manufacturing express the urgent need to understand that "it's not as simple as just pushing for energy conservation to solve everything."

Why is decarbonizing factories so difficult?
This is because there's a dilemma where the physical phenomena that occur daily in manufacturing clash directly with the quality standards we're required to meet.

Why do factories use so much energy?

The process of "heating and cooling" is at the core of manufacturing.

Almost all products, from car parts that support our daily lives to semiconductors in smartphones and even everyday foods, are completed through process of "heating and cooling" the raw materials.
To achieve the ideal hardness of metals or to ensure safe chemical reactions, factories use massive furnaces and boilers and maintain extremely precise temperature control.
Factories consume large amounts of energy (electricity and gas) to generate and maintain this "heat."

We cannot compromise on "quality" for the sake of environmental protection; this is something we absolutely cannot give up.

The first hurdle the manufacturing site faces here is balancing this with "quality."
For example, even slightly lowering the temperature setting of a heat treatment furnace or shortening the heating time to save energy can significantly alter the strength and performance of the product.
In the worst-case scenario, there's even a risk that everything will end up being defective.
In the world of manufacturing, maintaining quality is something that we absolutely cannot compromise on.
Even when we pursue environmental initiatives, we cannot sacrifice quality for that purpose. Lowering quality would mean losing credibility as a company.

How to contain the "escape of heat"

The property of heat: heat moves from a place of high temperature to a place of low temperature.

Next, the inherent nature of heat as a form of energy makes the problem even more difficult.
As a fundamental principle of physics, heat has the property of moving from areas of higher temperature to areas of lower temperature.
No matter how efficiently heat is generated within a factory, that heat constantly tries to escape through the walls and pipes of the equipment, or through the openings used for loading and unloading products.

The difficulty lies in not knowing where the leak is coming from or how much is leaking.

No matter how excellent the insulation material (i.e., material that makes it difficult for heat to transfer) is, it is impossible to completely eliminate heat loss.
What makes it even more troublesome is that the phenomenon of "where and how much heat is leaking" cannot be detected with the naked eye.
Until now, these heat escape routes and temperature variations within a space have been estimated and countermeasures taken based on the years of experience and intuition of engineers on site.
However, with the increasing demand for more stringent decarbonization, relying solely on such individual feelings is reaching its limits.

Why measuring is the first step to solving the problem

The meaning of transforming on-site "gut feelings" into "accurate data"

To overcome this difficult problem, advanced factories are now working on making the movement of heat "visible."
We use the latest measurement technology to record the invisible movements of a factory as objective "numerical values (data)"—how the temperature changes over time and through which gaps heat escapes.
By transforming the "it feels kind of hot" feeling on the ground into accurate data, we can finally begin to think based on data.

Optimize processes with technology.

If we can obtain the physical evidence through data, we can identify specific optimal solutions, such as "we should strengthen the insulation in this area" or "at this timing, we can reduce fuel consumption by this much without compromising quality."
Decarbonization is not simply about restricting energy use and making sacrifices.
By pursuing precise heat control—such as "preventing heat loss" and "using only the necessary amount where it's needed"—and maximizing the inherent capabilities of existing equipment, that is the true path to reducing CO2 emissions.

We accurately measure invisible heat movements and improve processes based on the data.
Although it may seem like a painstaking process, this step of "measuring" is the starting point for achieving both quality and environmental responsibility.
Factories of the future will need a perspective that allows them to observe phenomena more deeply and accurately.