Sustainable through automation
Lobbe Industrieservice relies on the highest possible standards
Work in industrial services often takes place in sensitive work areas. Here, the protection of employees through the highest level of occupational safety is paramount. "We don't just reduce sustainability to climate protection, other factors
such as working conditions that focus on the health and safety of employees should also be considered here in the same way," says Adrian Bernard, Managing Director of Lobbe Industrieservice GmbH & Co KG. These pillars of sustainability have always been the most important drivers of innovation for Lobbe Industrieservice. For this reason, the occupational safety department within the Lobbe Group has a very high priority.
But why is occupational safety so important for the industrial services sector? In industrial service, technology is often used to remove hard, caked or stuck product residues from production facilities in order to maintain ongoing production and support the operational safety of the equipment in the production facilities. It goes without saying that such techniques have to work with strong forces. For example, among other methods, ultra-high water pressure is often used in industrial cleaning. With this extreme force, even steel or concrete can be cut.
Therefore, only trained personnel are allowed to handle such technology. This is where one of the flanks of occupational safety comes in. This includes technical measures such as a safety gear or an emergency stop switch, training and education and personal protective equipment (PPE). These measures are intended to protect people from hazards in the best possible way. Lobbe was involved with other partners in drafting a DIN regulation for HD workwear. This DIN standard is mandatory for all HD work across all disciplines.
Lobbe uses robots for some tank cleaning projects.
In addition to the Together for Sustainability audit, Lobbe participates in the EcoVadis certification process. This is because the TfS approach to verifying sustainability performance consists of two key elements: TfS assessments by EcoVadis and TfS audits by independent auditing companies. The strategic partnership between TfS and EcoVadis ensures a consistent and reliable approach to supplier assessment. The EcoVadis process provides sustainability ratings for global supply chains against 21 CSR criteria in the areas of environment, labour, human rights and ethics. More than 50,000 companies worldwide use EcoVadis to reduce risks, drive innovation and promote transparency and trust between business partners. Lobbe ranks among the top 25 percent of companies assessed by EcoVadis. As the world's largest provider of corporate sustainability ratings, EcoVadis conducts its assessments based on internationally recognised sustainability standards, Certified companies must regularly demonstrate their sustainability efforts in four categories: Environment, Ethics, Labour and Human Rights, and Sustainable Procurement.
As a founding member of DIRV (Deutscher Industrie-Reinigungs-Verband - German Industrial Cleaning Association), Lobbe joins forces with other association members to promote the topic of occupational safety. The newly founded association brings together companies from the chemical industry,
industrial service providers and equipment manufacturers. The topic of safety standards for HD work and the use of automation in industrial services, in which Lobbe is a leader, play a decisive role.
Own development that sets a precedent
Ten years ago, the first ever robot-assisted procedure in industrial service was developed to allow personnel to work as far as possible outside the danger zone during ultra-high-pressure water work: the Robotized Lance Frame (RLF). Lobbe has a patent on this
process. "This makes cleaning a heat exchanger as safe as possible, precise and comprehensible for the customer," summarises Adrian Bernard, Managing Director of Lobbe Industrieservice GmbH & Co KG.
With the Robotized Lance Frame (RLF), the advance for the high-pressure hoses moves on a three-axis frame. The working head guides three high-pressure water hoses that fit exactly into the small pipes of a heat exchanger. With up to
2,500 bar pressure, water can dissolve deposits on the inner walls at supersonic speed. The dimensions and geometry of the heat exchanger are stored in the system and the cleaning process is also recorded. This makes cleaning
precise and traceable. The biggest advantage of the system is that the working head can be positioned by remote control. This means that the staff can work outside the danger zone. If a larger heat exchanger were to be cleaned manually, each individual tube would have to be flushed separately with the HP lance - a much more time-consuming and confusing procedure, with staff working in the danger zone. In the meantime, the RLF has undergone several modifications, each of which is adapted and further developed to suit the specifics at the customer's site. These include the computer-controlled system in which the working head guides rotating lances. This system, which is also controlled by remote control, was successfully used by Lobbe for the first time at BASF's citral factory.
In the area of automation, Lobbe uses the mobile Robotized Lance Worker (RLW) for special requirements. The RLW is a kind of "extended arm of the human being". The robot arm can clean structures up to three metres away. The robot itself can be repositioned again and again in the course of cleaning in order to clean parts of the operation that are difficult to access. The RLW is also controlled by remote control, thanks to which the staff work outside the danger zone.
A high degree of automation makes it possible to work outside the danger zone.
Rehabilitation on the largest possible scale
Another Lobbe patent is the remediation of contaminated sites in the Schwarze Pumpe area of Brandenburg. With the vacuum thermal soil cleaning system (VTRA) developed and operated by Lobbe, Lobbe, in the Lobbe-Bauer consortium, is making an enormous contribution to source strength reduction - that is, to reducing the input of pollutants into the soil and groundwater. The Schwarze Pumpe area was one of the largest industrial areas for urban gas production in GDR times.
Over decades, pollutants accumulated in the soil there, which are now being excavated and processed. Lobbe uses a two-stage process for this. In the first phase, liquid substances are vaporised. In the second phase, the soil is heated again under vacuum. The vacuum lowers the boiling point of the pollutants and makes more heating unnecessary. In addition to saving energy, the soil retains its natural structure and can be backfilled into the original area after the pollutants have been separated.
Lobbe Industrieservice qualifies for Certified sustainability
At the invitation of a member company of the TfS initiative, Lobbe took part in a TfS audit in 2019 and achieved an excellent result. Sustainable action is an integral part of the corporate philosophy of all 33 chemical companies worldwide that have joined forces in the TfS initiative. They work together using a methodology developed by TfS to assess,
audit and improve sustainability practices in the chemical industry. The TfS audit sets high standards for occupational safety, production, climate protection, health, quality and disposal. At the end of July 2019, Lobbe completed a TfS audit with a
high-performance result.
The audit results are valid for three years and are currently being re-audited. Lobbe thus demonstrates its sustainable corporate governance. The audit catalogue for TfS contains globally uniform criteria on management and environmental aspects, health and safety, employee and human rights as well as responsible corporate governance. These topics defined by TfS are tailored to the requirements of the chemical industry and follow international principles.
As part of the TfS audit, an on-site inspection by the auditors takes place at Lobbe again this year: In addition to the labelling of containers and hazardous waste, escape routes and collection points are inspected and various interviews are conducted with employees; remuneration, the provision of personal protective equipment, holiday and break times are also included in the final assessment. "We have almost completely fulfilled the required specifications in 2019," says Willi Wenner, Lobbe
Industrieservice Vertrieb, who prepared the audit together with his colleagues from occupational safety and the PTU department. An important, necessary, but also busy process for Lobbe. The audit is about compliance with and observance of occupational safety regulations, careful documentation of work processes and numerous other points. "We are very proud of the result, which involved many departments. As a contractual partner of many chemical companies, we thus meet the highest quality requirements. We are confident of achieving an excellent result again this year," summarises Tim Rahlenbeck, Managing Director of Lobbe Industrieservice GmbH & Co KG.
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