The Green Factory

Streaming video - 2015

This film tells the story of a remarkable "green factory" and of a Belgian company called Ecover. Ecover claims it is possible to make a profit and help save the planet. It tries to be sustainable in every aspect of its production. PRODUCTS: Ecover makes washing products - but unlike the big brands they avoid ingredients based on petrochemicals. Producing liquid cleaners involves mixing a variety of raw ingredients in the right amounts - and in the right order. When the bottles are filled and boxed, robots put them onto pallets, ready for wrapping and warehousing. The liquids are pumped about the factory using an air compressor - very energy efficient. THE BUILDING: Ecover claims its factory is the first ecological factory - it ev...en has a "green" roof covered in plants which absorb water and help to prevent flooding. The factory's wastewater is cleaned biologically, using a waste-eating bacteria. Booming sales means the company has a problem: meeting demand. A computer system called Odyssey helps them to keep in stock of the materials they need to meet incoming orders. PLCS and SENSORS: Vital to running Ecover's automated lines are light sensors which detect when a bottle goes past them. They feed this information back to a PLC - a programmable logic controller, in effect the brains of the production line. But operators can intervene using a HMI - a human machine interface. Touch panels allow operators to vary how the factory's robots work, too. more