Coats, the world leader in thread manufacturing and structural components for apparel and footwear, as well as an innovative pioneer in performance materials, is the pioneer in sustainability initiatives. Coats is committed to the UN Global Compact and supportive of its Principles; covering Human Rights, Environment, Energy, and Climate issues. Coats seek to actively extend these principles across the value chain as well as embedded in the operations to deliver 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Coats is committed to reducing emissions in line with the COP2 1.5°C pathway to play the part in minimizing climate change risks by following of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) principle. Being the global business leader in the industrial thread, Coats sets ambitious sustainability strategy targets. Energy is one of the prioritized aspects considering its impact on global warming, scarcity, and costs. Coats started the journey by setting the 2018 baseline for energy KPI KWH/KG ( Energy usage in KWH for 1 kg of thread production), and set the target of consuming 7% less energy by 2022, globally from the 2018 baseline, and Coats Bangladesh operation has reduced over 29% of energy consumption and became one of the top most contributors in achieving the global target. Coats Bangladesh followed a systematic DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analysis, Improve, and Control) approach and lean tools throughout this journey of excellence and pioneered the embedding culture of managing sustainability.
Sharing some of the many innovative and game-changing initiatives that helped in this outstanding achievement as follows:
What we don’t measure, we don’t manage!
To manage energy effectively, it is critical to know where we are consuming and what type of energy are in which pattern. Coats Bangladesh has incorporated ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Utility tool to support data monitoring and analysis. Under this project, we have installed 100+ energy meters in the factories that covered all the critical equipment/zones/machines, and live data are being streaming continuously. Thus the whole plant’s energy consumption are being tracked from a single computer window or remotely. The e-sight dashboard is embedded with an alert, alarm, and report generation system. Also, the customized dashboard can be prepared.
Energy efficiency improvement by Waste Heat Recovery system
For energy management, it is critical to reduce heat waste that happens in the different forms of energy from different energy-generating devices (Generators, Boilers) and processes (Dyeing Machines, steam circuits, etc.). Coats Bangladesh primarily focused on reducing heat waste by incorporating multiple technology and process improvement such as;
Energy Co-Generation: Coats Bangladesh has incorporated the Exhaust Gas Boiler (EGB) for the co-generation of steam. The EGB generates steam by using heat from Exhaust flue gas having 400°C temperature from the Gas/Diesel Generator. This high temperature flue gas is being used as heat source to generate steam at EGB, thus flue gas temperature reduces to 130°C. After incorporating EGB, we are enjoying about 18 tons/day of steam without fuel and minimizing CO, by 360 tons/year and resulting in a 13% thermal efficiency improvement from the Gas/Diesel Generator.
Heat recovery from Gas Generator Engine jacket water: Coats Bangladesh has incorporated a unique technique to recover heat that is generated by the Gas Generator Engine. Cooling Tower is a traditional equipment to cool down the generator. Instead of cooling tower, we are using normal water to cool down the generator. While passing through the generator, normal water becomes warm (from 30oC to 50°C) by exchanging heat with genera- tor. This warm water is being used in dyeing process to save energy since we need water of 135oC for dyeing process. As a result, Coats Bangladesh is enjoying 600 MWh/year energy savings which resulted in about 135 tons/year CO, emission savings to the environment.
Condensate Recovery System (CRS): This is another impactful project to optimize the utilization of steam. It works with the Pressure Power Packaged Pumping Unit (PPPU). The series connection of PPPU collects the condensate after the steam trap of the dyeing machines. The condensate water is then moved to the PPPU unit and mechanically pumped to the feed water tank of the Boiler. Incorporation of this process has improved the Boiler efficiency significantly and thereby reduced the fossil fuel and water consumption.
Waste Heat Recovery by Economizer
Like EGB, similar technology of utilizing flue gas temperature of boiler has been applied to pre-heat boiler inlet water which is typically known as Economizer. Earlier boiler inlet water temperature by mixing with condensate and process water was 55°C which converted to steam at 150’C with fuel source gas/diesel, and allowing flue gas emission into the environment at a temperature of 210°C and thus wasting heat. Coats Bangladesh recovered this waste heat from boiler flue gas by installing an "Economizer” in the flue gas circuit. As a result, the Feed water of the boiler is heated from 55°C to 90°C and the boiler flue gas temperature cools down to 120°C from 210’C. In this way, Coats Bangladesh is discharging low-temperature exhaust, which is eco-friendly, reducing CO, emissions, and saving fuel consumption.
Steam Insulation
Coats Bangladesh has established an effective insulation-management program to confirm proper insulation of steam circuits through periodic checking of the effectiveness of insulation by the Thermal Imaging Camera. This is to confirm both energy conservation by reducing heat waste and hazard removal for potential hot surface contact with operators.
Energy consumption optimization through Process Improvement
The primary consumer of all the utilities is the production process and the effectiveness of energy depends on how well we are managing these scarce resources at the user end. Coats Bangladesh team has been reviewing the end-to-end process critically to identify opportunities as below for improvement and taking actions.
Dyeing Process optimization: As part of our latest technology search, Coats Bangladesh has installed a new generation dyeing vessel with a Low Liquor Ratio (LLR) design, also known as I-Cone dyeing vessels which consume 20% less energy and over 40% less water. Based on the learning from the new technology, we have refurbished and converted all our conventional dyeing vessels to dye with a Low Liquor Ratio and consume less electricity and water. The team also is continuously looking for optimizing the dyeing cycles to be water and energy efficient by leveraging both local and global talents through team collaboration.
Drying Process optimization: Coats Bangladesh has incorporated a new generation type of Radio Frequency (RF) dryer that uses steam instead of electricity for heat generation and consumes 44% less energy. We have applied the same technology in our existing conventional RF dryers and reduced electricity consumption by 35%.
Final Winding: In the final winding process, old machines were replaced with new-generation IoT-enabled winding machines that consume 20% less energy. Also, in the traditional winding machines, we replaced the heating system of lubrication that resulted in 25% less electricity consumption used for lube heating.
Energy Conservation by utilization of daylight
Coats Bangladesh is utilizing both side wall and top roof transparent sheets to maximize the utilization of day-light and has been saving over 43 MWh/Year electricity. In addition, an energy-efficient approach has been taken by replacing all CFL lights with LED lights across the factory and reducing energy waste by incorporating motion sensors in warehouse and less occupied working areas
Journey towards Renewable Energy
Coats set an ambitious goal to convert 70% of conventional energy to renewable energy by 2030, globally. As a part of this, we have utilized Fifty Thousand Square Feet of Warehouse roof to generate 421 kWh of solar energy at our Gazipur facility which will reduce 250 tons/ year of CO2 emission. As a result of all these initiatives and the basic culture of sustainability improvement, Coats Bangladesh has been reducing energy consumption year on year that is benefiting sustainability along with offsetting the Energy cost inflation.
The achievement of Coats Bangladesh Ltd. on sustainability was phenomenal and our effort and contributions have been acknowledged at a group level by awarding the highly acclaimed CEO Applause Award-Sustainability for exceptional performance at a Coats Global Leadership Conference-2023 in Turkey.
Mohammad Al Kashem, the MD of Coats Baneladesh & Pakistan, received the Award from Rajiv Sharma, the Group Chief Executive of Coats Plc
