BALTIC INDUSTRY (2020 spring)

BALTIC INDUSTRY #

Automation of robotic processes in Lithuania

Rapid transition to dieselhate

Plastics and rubber economy in the context of Industry 4.0

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CONTENT

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INSIGHTS 1 TECHNOLOGY NOW AND WORK IN THE FUTURE 2 AUTOMATION OF ROBOTIC PROCESSES IN LITHUANIA 3 EUROPEAN INDUSTRY STRATEGY 2030 FROM THE GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

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TOPIC 4 RAPID TRANSITION TO DIESELHATE 5 TECHNICAL PROGRESS AND CONSEQUENCES

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PRODUCTION 6 CIRCULAR ECONOMY OF PLASTICS AND RUBBER IN INDUSTRY 4.0

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SITUATION 7 WOODEN FURNITURE EXPORTS KEEP GROWING 8 LABORATORY INVITES KIDS TO LEARN ABOUT ENGINEERING

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SCIENCE 9 IMPORTANT MESSAGE: STAY SAFE FOR YOUR FAMILY’S SAKE

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Dear Reader, For the third issue of Baltic Industry magazine, we greet you entirely in English. Hopefully, a smoother linguistic understanding will allow us to move in the same circle of communication. To get a feeling for the real vibe of Baltic industry, we will aim to discuss a wide range of topics: they ought to be applicable to our region as well as being relevant for manufacturers.

Just as the industry is a great part of the economy and the whole life of a society, the environmental challenges are an inevitable part of a nation’s regulations, industrial strategies, innovations and marketing. Therefore, the first issue of Baltic Industry in 2020 is green-themed.

Talking about the factors which are driving the economy, natural resources are being pushed down from the top of the list. Data is the new ‘oil’, while artificial intelligence is the new ‘worker’.

Technologies are making life easier, let us leave less of a carbon footprint, but also greatly affect job market and are leading to an increasing inequality in lower-income areas.

As it is possible to speed up work more than ten-fold with the help of the automation of robotic processes, it is only the question of time before the employees performing routine tasks must acquire new skills in order to avoid being replaced. Technology is constantly developing further, and industry is following it – so low-skilled worker are not the only ones who are eventually going to be replaced. For example, the internal combustion engine, one of the trademarks of German industry, has reached a dead-end.

And even though the disorderly Brexit is finally over and the trade disputes between the United States of America and China have come to an agreement, there are numerous other variables that make us agree with Joscha Ritz – these are times of extraordinary uncertainty.

You are welcome to read more, suggest topics or visit us at: www.bindustry.eu.

Editor Lina Svaldenienė

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Equipment and electrical-automation systems design; Project management; Equipment modernization and automation; Assembly and programming of electrical-automation systems; Technical consultancy.

www.tprojektas.lt

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TECHNOLOGY NOW AND WORK IN THE FUTURE

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Lina Svaldenienė

If a robot is in the house, it does not necessarily mean somebody is going to lose their job! Currently, the Baltics ranks pretty low with regard to the number of robots per thousand employees, but it is interesting to look forward and review the worldwide trends. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reassured us with its recent report on the “Work of the Future” project, saying that robots, automation and artificial intelligence (AI), although they may look like the biggest threat to the workforce at present, will not result in crowds of unemployed and miserable workers.

DISPLACEMENT The more than twenty faculty members at MIT did not deny the impact of technology on the job market. However, the largest concern is increasing inequality, which derives from the environment

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changing future of work in general.

With technological progress, work is becoming more and more productive, and this trend has been seen over the last forty years. But workers have not benefited from this growth, the report claims. While

labour productivity has notably increased, the earnings did not particular grow when adjusted for inflation.

Also, the employees have experienced polarisation, which is driven by technology.

According to the MIT researchers, highly educated workers have become more productive, while less-educated workers have become more easily replaceable.

SKILLS TRAINING Between these sharply divided groups, there are the moderately-skilled workers, who basically are able to do standard tasks. This is also an area of concern, because every type of routine work will eventually be assigned to robots.

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The employees have experienced polarisation, which is driven by technology. According to the MIT researchers, highly educated workers have become more productive, while less-educated workers have become more easily replaceable.

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Accordingly, “Work for the Future� suggests simple and reasonable solutions as skills training. This is especially valuable advice for workers without a college degree. The researchers include colleges, apprenticeship programmes and online education as significant targets to invest in such training.

Tax incentives for enterprises that invest in their workers (e.g. by training them or educating them on-the-job) can be another governmental solution to avoid ending up with a pool of unskilled workers whose position in the labour market gets worse with every technological innovation.

PROGRESS OF ROBOTS In summer of 2019, another report was released by Oxford Economics, company responsible for global forecasting and

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quantitative analyses. This report claims that by 2030, robots are predicted to occupy almost ten percent of all manufacturing jobs across the globe, which amounts to twenty million jobs in total.

The capabilities of robotic machines are progressing rapidly, and they are now able to perform tasks that were earlier entrusted to human employees. Next to automation and AI, Oxford Economics names technologically advanced engineering, energy storage and machine learning as the main developments that will continue to move robots forward.

Such a robotisation will be followed by the loss of tens of millions jobs in poorer local economies that rely on a low-skilled workforce. The forecast echoes the MIT claims about increasing inequality, as the majority of the displacement will be located in the lower-income areas in developed

countries. With the rise of robots, inequality in income will increase, although the national productivity and economy will grow, creating possibilities for new jobs.

CHINA LEADS THE WAY During the last twenty years, the number of robots in use has tripled and reached 2.25 million. In the next twenty years, the stock of robots worldwide will grow at an even faster pace, and China is will be the absolute leader in the robotic revolution, as fourteen out of the twenty million robots in the world will be operating there.

No one denies that the multiplying number

of robots presents a challenge, primarily for governments. The impact of robotisation is not limited to the workplace – it will exponentially grow to affect the whole economy and society.

In a report called “The Future of Jobs 2018�, The World Economic Forum (WEF), an international organisation that engages the leaders of society to shape global, regional and industrial agendas, states that algorithms and intelligent machines are expected to create 133 million new roles globally within a period of three years. On the other hand, nearly 75 million jobs are predicted to be displaced by employing advanced technology. Overall, the mathematics allows us to stay positive, as the gain is 58 million jobs.

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KNOWLEDGEABLE WORKERS The numbers of highly-skilled workers, such as software engineers, data scientists, digital communicators and online specialists, are definitely on the rise. On the other hand, the WEF argues that the new assembly lines of data, as well as the specific and rarelymentioned aspects of artificial intelligence and machine learning, also require huge numbers of workers. What really matters for the future of AI are trainers in the fields of data and algorithms.

Apparently, the majority of machine learning techniques are now based on supervised

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learning. This can be described as repetitive showcasing, which is done by human employee to a computer. The computer is sequenced by specifying exactly what the example is for each algorithm, and how the computer ought to react to it every time.

Eventually, after facing enough cases and solutions, the computer is able to make decisions by itself. The more data it learns, the better recognition it has.

BUILDING AI Thus, human roles do not disappear in favour of machine learning. An army of workers is needed to keep specifying images, texts or other pieces of data: what is there, where it is, what it is doing, what features it has, or any other relevant specifications. And the word “army” certainly depicts the scope of the workforce needed to label almost every piece of data, because the numbers of cognitive tasks are as amazingly voluminous as the datasets are.

To better imagine the amounts, the WEF gives the following example: self-driving cars will generate 40 terabytes of data for every eight hours of driving. According to Waymo, one of the US companies manufacturing self-driving cars, they have already driven 16 million kilometres on public roads. The hours needed to drive these distances, multiplied by the terabytes of data gained during these hours, are equal to a huge amount of data.

Data is often named as the new “oil” to emphasise its importance in the economy, where technologies are becoming as essential as resources used to be, and where thousands of working hours are being created for humans, too.

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AUTOMATION OF ROBOTIC PROCESSES IN LITHUANIA

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Info and photos by VU MIF

In a midst of change and the modernisation of technology, Lithuanian companies are increasingly looking for solutions to automate their processes.

These solutions may be based on robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning or artificial intelligence. One of the largest banks in the region has already implemented robotic solutions and has saved 100,000 hours of human work. Now, at least a tenth of all employees’ productive time is dedicated to the development of new technology.

RPA – WHAT IS IT? What is RPA and how does it work? Why is it important for Lithuania? What kind of competencies are the “must-haves” for an RPA specialist? These are the topics I discussed with Mantas Katinas, Chief Executive of Invest Lithuania, Povilas Treigys, the IT Vice-Dean of the Mathematics and Informatics Faculty (MIF) at Vilnius University (VU) and Gintautas Tamulevičius, Associate Professor at the Mathematics and Informatics Faculty in the Data Science and Digital Technology Institute (DMSTI), Vilnius University.

The technology involved in robotic process automation allows various routine tasks in IT systems to be automated. “To achieve a specific purpose, specialised robotic software is used. It allows us to set up and execute a sequence of steps in the IT system automatically. RPA solutions are applied to routine tasks, such as collecting data, integration and filling in forms. The automation of such processes allows us to speed up the work with data by more than ten-fold, thus increasing a environment

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company’s operational productivity. In the future, we can expect even greater automation (at this moment, automation without humans is impossible), as well as the integration of RPA technology with other technologies and artificial intelligence-based solutions. There is no doubt that RPA technology will lead to one of the largest change to IT systems in the near future,” said Gintautas Tamulevičius.

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES G. Tamulevičius was echoed by the IT ViceDean of the MIF, Povilas Treigys – RPA is able to assist a person with routine work: “We often have the challenge to transfer data from an old to a new system and to integrate them both. Usually, all the data between the old and the new system is transferred by a person, who acts kind of like a “robot”. The work process is clear, it is defined by the rules, and the employee knows exactly what tasks he has to perform every day.”

“Of course, this kind of routine job frustrates

Photo: P. Treigys

the employees and reduces their motivation.

Thus, the opportunity to replace routine human work with a software robot arose. This replacement does not mean that the company implementing an RPA solution has to let go of some employees – certainly not. Robots need to be supervised, hence the employees are not fired. Instead, the employee who understands the activity, goals and processes of the company well, has an opportunity to learn, and later to program and supervise the robot, and to control the processes it executes.”

IMPORTANCE FOR LITHUANIA According to M. Katinas, the Chief Executive of Invest Lithuania, robotic process automation is especially important for service centres in Lithuania: “We are able to see the results quickly and to save labour hours. All companies are looking for greater opportunities. The keys, which are able to encourage companies

Photo: M. Katinas

to implement intelligent management solutions, are bringing the automation community together, as well as talent development (in the field of process automation) and incentives for process automation. Automation is an employee-friendly strategy, whereby they increase their level of competence. The employees not only have the opportunity to earn more but to become more competitive in the labour market as well.

The growing use of RPA solutions makes us realise, once again, that a talented specialist in a specific field just isn’t enough anymore.

It is important to note that in many companies there are large numbers of employees who work with routine processes and have already utilised very simple solutions, such as hotkeys, and have learned to automate some of the trivial tasks themselves.” environment

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MANDATORY COMPETENCIES “Those employees who are skilled at process thinking not only learn the basics of process optimisation/engineering quite easily, but also master the basics of IT and learn quickly how to use IT tools for process automation.

Likewise, employees who work in the IT field can increase their competence, while trying to understand business processes. A lot of attention is being dedicated to broadening knowledge about automation processes and breaking the stereotypes about ‘robots’,” said M. Katinas.

Those employees who are capable of performing robotic process automation, or tasks involving intelligent process automation, must be proficient in the topics of management, process management and project management, as well as knowing information technology and being skilled in programming. “The training of specialists with these competencies has recently started in the Information Systems Engineering program in the MIF at environment

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Photo by E. Kurauskas

VU. It is focussed on business processes, data analytics, software development and technology applications,” added the Chief Executive of Invest Lithuania.

BRINGING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER The MIF at VU was the first in the country to introduce an RPA module into the programme for IT Systems Engineering (the module has been available to students from 2018), which reaffirmed their status as the leader in Information Technology among the country’s universities.

“We created a programme that would be beneficial for both business and for Lithuania. We talked to the representatives of various enterprises, who indicated the competencies and the types of employees that they needed. In order to design and operate a robot, an employee must understand the different aspects of modelling the business processes, have precise and logical thinking and know the basics of algorithmisation. Additionally, the

employee has to be able to program. We are currently collaborating with one of the leading automation software developers – BluePrism.

It provides its service to the second-largest service centre in Lithuania, Western Union, which now has one of the most advanced RPA solutions.”

“The RPA module is offered to MIF students as an optional subject in their second year.

Why is it optional? We are keeping an eye on the feedback from students for now. Besides this, the lecturers have to ‘grow’ their RPA competencies in close cooperation with the RPA software suppliers,” said P. Treigys.

RPA TECHNOLOGY EVENT 19 September of 2019, the first meeting of the RPA community took place. “It was the first community meeting of the process automation community and the service centres that are implementing process automation, and was one of Invest Lithuania’s initiatives to encourage the development of process automaPhoto: Gintautas Tamulevičius

RPA solutions are applied to routine tasks, such as collecting data, integration and filling in forms. The automation of such processes allows us to speed up the work with data by more than ten-fold, thus increasing a company’s operational productivity.

(Gintautas Tamulevičius)

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tion. The initiative is unprecedented in other countries. So far, the events carried out elsewhere have been very isolated, and complex solutions have not yet been sought. Bringing together such a community and expanding the career opportunities will strengthen Lithuania’s position in the fields of cognitive process automation and artificial intelligence,” said M. Katinas.

The MIF at VU representatives also participated in the robotic process automation RPA Meetup event, organised by Invest Lithuania.

“During the event, spokespersons from different companies presented their RPA technologies to a large audience, reviewed the current

trends in process automation and evaluated the prospects for the implementation of RPA technology in the near future. The speakers shared their experiences of the ongoing RPA projects in Lithuania, emphasising their importance for the country’s technological and economic development, and explained the growing demand for RPA specialists. In addition, it was mentioned that Lithuania has the potential to become a leader in the field of RPA technology,” shared G. Tamulevičius about his experience at the event. environment

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EUROPEAN INDUSTRY S THE GERMAN PE

The speech, given at the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists con office of BDI/BDA The Germ

BDI is an umbrella association of German industry, so our members are from 39 sectors of German industry, such as automobile, machinery, electronics, chemicals, and so on. German industry faces times of extraordinary uncertainty at the moment.

In Germany, the conversion of the drive technology in automobile sector is a great challenge and burdens production. In Europe, we have the challenge of disorderly Brexit.

Internationally, we have trade disputes between the United States of America (USA) and China. As a result, there is a huge risk of global recession at the moment.

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Global economic growth will drop at nearly three per cent this year. Global trade is likely to increase only marginally, and global industrial production will only increase by one per cent at most. The slowdown in economic global growth and investment activity will

STRATEGY 2030 FROM ERSPECTIVE

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nference October of 2019 by Joscha Ritz, Senior Manager in Brussels man Business Representation

impair German economic development quite a bit not only this year but, actually, for quite some years to come. German investments goods were and to a certain extent still are in high demand in emerging countries, undergoing industrialisation. But a foreign

trade engine has started suffering.

Let me give you just some fresh figures from Germany: in the second quarter of 2019 real gross domestic product fell by 0.1 per cent in Germany compared to the previous quarter. environment 19 We have negative net exports, slowing down

GDP (gross domestic product) growth. Since the second quarter of 2018 already, domestic and foreign amount of products is declining, and, as a result, industrial production is down for the fourth consecutive quarter. Also, the business climate index for manufacturing is very worrying, it is now at the lowest level in 10 years. Therefore, BDI, my organisation expects only up to 0,5 per cent GDP growth this year, and we are not optimistic for the future. Especially because the USA continues preferring an escalating trade disputes over trying to find and negotiate the solution. To conclude on this, the current global growth outlook is a big challenge for Germany and also for Europe.

In our view, it is also an opportunity to change the direction of economic policymaking. So we, as BDI, strongly welcome that we focus on industrial policy, in Berlin, Brussels, and also here, in Vilnius.

In Germany, the minister of the economy, Mister Altmaier, is working on a comprehensive industry strategy 2030. It should be released in coming weeks. In February of 2019, the minister presented the first draft of it. It rightly focuses on the rise of protectionism, and related distortions in global trade and investment activity. It contains several very important measures, from our perspective. Let me give you just one example: we share the minister’s analyses that competition policy should be reviewed.

We are convinced that the European Union (EU) competition regime, as generally proven, has been very successful for the last 60 years.

However, the openly protectionist industrial policy approach, chosen by some countries, poses new challenges on the EU competition regime. So, what we would like to see, for example, is that European commissionship would encourage cooperation between companies. Competition legislation at this very moment does not clearly define the limits of collaboration between companies or joint research project, which is very important in times of Industry 4.0. Companies, which, for example, want to develop new digital projects using a common platform, need to have great legal certainty, that that’s ok.

Most importantly, however, any national approach, be it German, be it also between Germany and France, all of this needs to be embedded in a truly common European industrial policy. That’s why we are very much looking forward to the discussion with the next European Commission on the industrial strategy 2030. So what do we think about the priorities of such a strategy, what should the next European institutions should focus on? From our perspective, Europe needs a much more visionary industrial policy, which is basically focusing on three disruptive changes which are happening at the moment and which cannot be dealt just by one company or several companies within a value chain.

WE HAVE NEGATIVE NET EXPORTS, SLOWING DOWN GDP GROWTH. SINCE THE SECOND

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QUARTER OF 2018 ALREADY, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AMOUNT OF PRODUCTS IS DECLINING, AND, AS A RESULT, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION IS DOWN FOR THE FOURTH CONSECUTIVE QUARTER.

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And these three truly disruptive changes, from our perspective, are; first, climate change, second, China, third, digitalisation.

Let me start with the first disruptive change, which requires such an ambitious approach of industrial policy, climate change. To achieve German and European climate targets, energy and emission-intensive industries need to become much more climate-friendly or even climate-neutral, of course, without losing competitiveness. So success will very much depend on keeping climate costs as low as possible, compared to our main competitors outside Europe.

Let me focus, for a second, on a country that I know best, Germany. Since the German government decided in 2016 to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 per cent until 2050, the longterm climate strategy is in the centre of our debate in Germany. My organisation BDI has contributed to this debate with the comprehensive climate study called “Climate path for Germany”. Its conclusions are very simple and clear: Germany is able to unilaterally reach the eighty per cent goal with existing technologies and without a negative impact on GDP. However, several preconditions need to be fulfilled, if other major economies do not follow our path.

However, greenhouse gas reduction beyond 80 per cent are extremely difficult to achieve without great changes in Germany. We would

need also radical behavioural changes, for example, concerning meat production, meat consumption as well, mobility, and so on and so forth. And what’s for sure, both pathways of the 80 per cent reduction and the 95 per cent reduction in Germany require an enormous amount of investments, in a range of 1.5 to 2.3 trillion euros, in Germany alone until 2050.

So what does all of this mean for European climate policy? The commission presidentelect Ursula von der Leyen, who you know quite well, wants to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. Greenhouse gas neutrality means different efforts and also impacts for each country, depending on its energy mix, on its industrial structure. Germany still has 38 per cent of coal electricity. In February we had a national commission that decided that Germany should phase out coal until 2038 at the latest. So we have coal to phase out, and at the same time, let’s not forget about this, we also have nuclear energy to phase out in Germany until 2022.

This means enormous challenges for supply security and electricity costs in Germany.

Therefore, accompanying measures or limiting power prices are necessary to keep the energy-intensive industry competitive

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in Germany. In some Eastern European and also southern European countries the conditions are even more challenging.

Countries also lack the resources to realize such a new transition. So we, as German industry, are deeply convinced that there is a need for strong financial transfers from North to East, to South, in order to facilitate the transition of EU member states. And we are convinced that the current funds are not sufficient. Therefore, climate policy, from our perspective, nowadays is very much industrial policy.

Let me turn to the second disruptive change which requires strong industrial policy response, which is China. In the beginning of this year, BDI published a policy paper on China. Its conclusion is very clear: from our perspective, China is no longer developing towards an open market economy. So Europe is in the midst of systemic competition, between China’s state-controlled hybrid economy and European model of open market economy. Let me be very clear, China remains a very important partner for German industry. Just to drop a few figures, we have around eighty billion of direct investments in China, we have more than 5000 German companies at the moment active in China,

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and as you all know China is a very interesting place also for research and development, just think about artificial intelligence (AI) and so on and so forth.

Nevertheless, from BDI perspective, four paths require further discussion at the national level, but also in Brussels. First, Europe needs to strengthen its own competitiveness based in China. For example, China is very good at forcing big industrial corporations. We do not want the European Commission or the German government to force big companies.

However, what we would like to see is that if companies want to merge, that European commission takes a greater account of global competition and of the competition that will happen not within two to three years, but maybe within ten to fifteen years. It is very challenging, but, I think, it is necessary to also face a competition coming from China.

Secondly, EU member states should ensure a strong united Europe. For example, we are very much in favour of using the traditional German-Chinese government consultation, not just to give the German message to Beijing, but to give a truly European message to Beijing. So we all need to change. Thirdly, EU institutions should establish effective economic policy instruments, also to face the

competition from state-owned enterprises and from subsidized enterprises from China. And fourth, Europe should strengthen cooperation with like-minded partners. I am thinking, for example, about cooperation with Japan and the US on the reforms. Therefore, foreign economic policy, like climate policy, is very much industrial policy for us at this very moment.

And let me finally focus on the third disruptive change, which requires a strong industrial policy and strong strategy for 2030: digitalisation. So, digitalisation, and most importantly Industry 4.0, profoundly change the industrial process. For industrialised countries, such as Germany or Lithuania, it’s of utmost importance to ensure industrial competitiveness in a more and more digital environment. There is a lot of competition coming from American and Chinese companies at the moment. And the successful digitalisation of industry requires technical infrastructure, a competitive regulatory framework, a lot of public investments into research development, creation of new standards. All of this can hardly be handled by just one company or a bunch of companies.

Companies need the state for this.

Let me focus on just one technology, which will be key for Industry 4.0 to succeed in the future, Brussels already alluded to this, artificial intelligence. From our perspective, AI has great potential. A recent study from our Ministry of Economic Affairs shows that it could add two per cent to gross value creation until 2035, and most of the contribution would come from industry. It’s great potential within the industry. What is the place for Europe in all of this? From our perspective, Europe should not try to copy the US, should not try to become the champion of AI in marketing, and so on and so forth. We should also not try to copy China and become the master of AI in security, for example. From our perspective, we should focus on where we are strong, which is industrial artificial intelligence.

Just to begin with example from Germany: in automotive industry Volkswagen, for example, already uses AI quite well when it comes to detecting mistakes in the production process,

that the human eye is not capable of seeing.

So it’s happening. From our perspective, there are two measures which are especially important at the moment. There are much more, but let me focus on two. First, we should all focus our public investments much more on AI, that’s also very much true for the European budget. We need experts in AI in order to master the transition. And second, we already talked about it as well, we need to take SME’s along. You know, I come from a country where most of all, companies are small and medium-sized enterprises. 70 per cent of them are sitting in very rural areas, far away from the cities. That means quite a huge challenge for digitalisation in general, infrastructure etc, but also for AI. These companies can not afford to have an AI expert, so we need AI trainers to help SME’s going through this transition, and we also need network, so that SME’s can tackle the challenge. Therefore, shaping digitalisation from our perspective is also very much industrial policy for 2030.

To conclude, the global economic outlook is very very challenging. The slowdown of economic growth, investment activity means also slowdown in economic development in Germany, I’m afraid, for the years to come.

And I am also afraid, that the rest of Europe will not escape from this situation. So we very much welcome the renewed focus on industrial policy in Berlin, Brussels, and here. We are deeply convinced, that we need much more visionary industrial policy, focusing on these three disruptive changes that companies can not handle on their own: climate change, China, digitalisation.

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Continental Automotive Lithuania: attention to the environment and sustainability The Continental Automotive Lithuania electronics plant was built and prepared for the company’s production processes only 15 months after the foundation excavation work started, in July last year.

It is the largest greenfield foreign capital investment in Lithuania so far; thus, it is not surprising that the opening of this electronics plant was identified by government representatives, partners and contractors as a historical event for Lithuania.

MORE THAN ONE SELECTION CRITERIA The plant built in Kaunas has become a benchmark project for other Continental construction designs throughout the globe. The experiences acquired during the project have already been applied to other new Continental plants in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and in Debrecen, Hungary. The plant situated in Kaunas is distinctive due to the most modern technical cleanliness conditions and it meets the highest standards of the automotive industry. Besides this, the plant was designed and built while paying special attention to the environment and sustainability. This is the first design of a Continental Automotive plant to which the internationally recognised golden LEED certificate for the employment of sustainable solutions has been granted.

In this project, the design and the management work were entrusted to the Baltic Engineers company that has 17 years of experience and which complied with the local construction technical regulations and with the LEED, FM Global and the German VDI, VDS standards to ensure sustainability and the highest quality work in the course of the design and construction. After all, the design and the construction work had to be organised without exceeding the foreseen budget, which required environment

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additional effort and time. In the effort to create an exceptional high-tech industrial complex, all the solutions had to be repeatedly verified, some solutions had to be revised, and non-standard, innovative solutions needed to be sought.

The planning of the new plant reflects the modern approach, where considerable attention is paid to the comfort and well-being of the employees. One of the projects involved the offices for employees: the offices of the large area are characterised by high quality and modern interiors, i.e. meeting rooms for video conferencing, green walls, a space for sports with a multi-functional gym, a yard with greenery and a training area. Sheds for bicycles and mopeds were designed in accordance with the LEED requirements.

Power recharging points for electric vehicles were fitted for the employees.

The application of natural light involved the calculation and employment of a BIM model, so that natural lighting was ensured in more than 80 percent of the office premises. Such a solution maintains the natural human circadian rhythm, allowing people to feel good and at the same time reducing the electricity costs.

The design of the plant and the implementation of the design were entrusted to the specialists at Baltic Engineers and was awarded the LEED Gold certificate, i.e. this is the first manufacturing facility to be awarded with a certificate of such a high level. The certificate provides evidence that sustainability was sought according to the most recent version of LEED certification, which has made it even more difficult to receive the Gold rating than before. Currently, only the preliminary LEED Gold certificate for the design of the building has been received. But soon the building itself will be audited and, in the case of success, certified and finished.

Darius Kvedaras, Manager of the Baltic Engineers company, has pointed out that, first of all, the decision to seek the LEED Gold standard implies particularly high requirements for the quality of the materials used in the building and territory, and even their colours.

For example, the roof of the building and the majority of the covering materials on the parcel of land are of a white or grey colour.

The materials used in the object had to meet the requirements of the EPD and HPD standards. Our interlocutor acknowledged that it was a real challenge to find materials with such certificates, since the materials prevailing in Europe do not meet the requirements of a more sophisticated version of LEED. Innovation credits were implemented in the design, where one of the most interesting solutions, i.e. bird collision deterrence, resulted in a bird-friendly building design. In the course of the design, all vertical partitions in the parcel of land were calculated, corner glass was excluded and the glass reflectance characteristics were evaluated; therefore, the design was revised to mitigate the risk of birds crashing into the buildings or fences.

Strict LEED requirements were complied with in the course of the construction, for example, in the

land management plan (ESC plan), the wheels of all vehicles leaving the territory had to be washed, and an additional wall was erected around the parcel of land to prevent soil moving into the neighbouring land.

The amount of waste generated in the construction site was supervised during the whole construction process, as required by the LEED standard that specifies the sorting of all types of waste. An indoor air quality plan was developed for the work carried out in the building, according to the LEED requirements and one of the requirements significantly impeded the work of the builders because all the equipment used in the building needed to be only electrical.

RELIABLE PARTNERS WERE CHOSEN The team at the Baltic Engineers company has been evaluated in the market as a team which is perfectly aware of the international LEED and BREEAM environmental standards, is skilled in the use of digital BIM tools in its daily work and ensures the project management quality meets the ISO standards. All the aforementioned criteria, when combined as a whole, will guarantee that the plant is at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0).

"Devotion, a commitment to achieve the objectives and a willingness to implement this ambitious object have been of particular importance to the customer in choosing the project partners. The time limits were particularly short, but we were determined to implement the project. It was important that we absorbed the modern design and design management measures and methods, that we had experience of working in the BIM environment and that the team

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could communicate fluently in English. When choosing the parties to work with, the representatives of Continental even visited our office in order to evaluate the prevailing working environment, the interior, the style of communication of the team, etc.," commented D. Kvedaras, Manager of Baltic Engineers.

The customers knew immediately that they wanted intentional services; thus, it chose the EPCM (Engineering Procurement Construction Management) model. Furthermore, all the integrated services had to be ensured by one company. Thus, Baltic Engineers brought two separate teams to the project. One team for the design and one team for the project management.

ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY SOLUTIONS FOR THE PLANT AND OFFICES A sophisticated heat and cold production and distribution system has been designed and installed for the heating and cooling needs of the building.

The whole production system has been installed in a separate technical building and the distribution equipment is installed in a special room of the main building.

A gas-fired combined heat and power plant, which generates electricity by combusting gas and uses the heat generated during this process for heating the building, has been designed for the heating

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requirements in the main building. The electric power of the cogenerator is 1 MW and the thermal power is 1.2 MW. To cover the peak heating needs, two gas boilers with a power of 1 NW have been designed.

The heat production scheme is closely related to the cooling production. The cogenerator's heat, outside of the season requiring heating, is transmitted to the machine which transforms the heat into a cooling system at particularly low electricity costs. The cold machine produces 750 kW of cool air using only 8 kW of electric power. Thus, the cogenerator operates without stopping throughout the year and ensures a continuous electricity supply for both heat and cold.

Two additional compressor plants with cooling towers were designed and installed on the roof of the technical building to cover the peak cooling needs.

The highest microclimate requirements were set for the production shop, in which the temperature, moisture and level of dust must all be strictly controlled. To ensure the microclimate in the shop, 7 ventilation systems whose total amount of air measures nearly 500 thousand m3/h were designed and installed. All the equipment was installed on the roof of the building, which was a major challenge not only to the HVAC designers but also to the structural designers, as the equipment weighs around 100 tonnes.

The microclimate of the offices was also subject to high requirements. According to the requirements of the Lithuanian hygiene standards, the USA design standards ASHRAE and LEED, four separate main office ventilation systems were designed. The amount of air in the premises is controlled according to CO2 level sensors: more air is supplied if the occupancy of the premises is higher; whereas less air is supplied if the number of people in the premises becomes lower.

EXPENSIVE MISTAKES WERE AVOIDED In the implementation of the Continental project, Baltic Engineers used BIM during the whole design and construction process. First of all, the BIM plan was prepared in cooperation with the customer, taking into account its needs and the possibilities. In order to ensure the accuracy and quality of the BIM model, regular and systemic 3D laser scanning was carried out in the course of the construction. A laser point cloud of each device or structure was constantly compared with the drawings and the layout.

"The customer wanted to have not only a simple 3D model and two-dimensional drawings, but also a 3D layout which matched the real situation in the object from the very beginning. To this end, in the course of construction the building was scanned using 3D scanners. The aforementioned data was then transferred to the modelling application. The building layout includes the relevant geometry of the building systems, so the information related to the operation of the building was available immediately after opening the 3D model, and was developed on the basis of this," explained D. Kvedaras.

The employment of BIM allowed to the likelihood of mistakes to be minimised, ensuring a higher quality implementation of the project. BIM also helped the customer to better understand the final result, since he could virtually walk around the digital model and examine the spaces.

The team has successfully handled advanced tools, which allowed them to construct the plant of such a scale. For example, the BIM building model helped to solve conflicts, and allowed different engineering calculations (natural and artificial lighting, air movement in the ventilation system. etc.) to be carried out in the early stages.

Augmented reality solutions were applied in the construction site, so that the participants in the construction could find the most recent spatial model of the design and compare it with the work being carried out at the site, on their mobile devices. It's not for nothing that the construction of the building has become a good example, not only for industrial constructions in Lithuania, but also for other Continental objects throughout the globe.

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Ruukki

Innovative Ruukki solutions for the Continental plant, which have not been used in Lithuania before now The modern buildings recently constructed in Lithuania are surprising others not only with impressive architectural solutions, but also with innovative and smart construction elements that ensure the building's durability and comfort for dwellers, and in particular, for employees.

Progressive companies have already invested not only in durable and reliable designs, but also in environmentally-friendly and sustainable solutions.

Advanced Ruukki construction elements, which are well-known in the global market but have not yet been used in Lithuania, were chosen for construction of the Continental plant that opened its doors more than one month ago in Kaunas and was constructed in a record time, i.e. 15 months.

SMART ROOF LOAD MEASUREMENT SYSTEM The new generation Ruukki Roof Sensor, roof load monitoring system, was installed in the building.

The benefits of the Ruukki Roof Sensor system are particularly emphasized on large roof areas. In the winter, snow is unevenly distributed on it, resulting

RuukkiÂŽ life SPA Energy sandwich panels were chosen for the construction of the external walls of the Continental plant.

RuukkiÂŽ life SPA Energy sandwich panels were chosen for the construction of the external walls of the Continental plant.

The installation scheme of the certified Rukki Forma system

in the risk of a roof fracture. Sensors are installed in the critical zones of the roof where dangerous snow accumulation may occur, as identified during the design phase. The smart system records the snow load on the roof, which may be seen by the responsible persons who login to the sensor system in the local area network (LAN) or login via a mobile phone in real time. In cases of snow accumulation becoming too high, the sensors active the local LED signal and send a report to the responsible persons.

When the solution is used, there is no need to rely on unreliable or complex snow layer thickness measurements. Furthermore, the smart system not only prevents hazardous situations but also helps to save costs, since the snow is removed only when it poses a threat.

The building facade was finished by assimetrically perforated Liberta Elegant 500 cassettes.

SANDWICH PANELS MADE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY MATERIALS Today, construction work is aimed not only at ensuring the functionality and convenience of the building, but also at ensuring a good environmental performance.

It is even better if the construction elements are characterised by several features. For this reason, Ru ukki® life SPA Energy sandwich panels were chosen for the construction of the external walls of the Continental plant.

The requirements for energy efficiency and the tightness of the building, which have recently become more and more stringent, have resulted in the popularity of the Ruukki Energy special panel system. It was developed after long research studies and experiments on how to improve the tightness of partition panels. The system consists of special higher-tightness wall panels, assemblies, accessories, tightness instructions and employees with the respective qualifications who will turn all this into an integrated whole.

The panel system helps to save up to 20 percent of the funds needed for heating the building. This raises the value and the level of comfort of the building. This wall installation solution results in a higher building energy class and reduced pollution, since the heating requires less energy. Thus, not only money but also land resources are saved. The efficiency of the Energy system is also supported by a certificate issued by experts (tightness level n50 ≤ 0.3 l/h and q50≤1.0 l/h).

Besides this, the sandwich panels are characterised by a high load bearing capacity and fire resistance. The inner core of the panels is made of non-flammable, environmentally-friendly structural glass mineral wool.

Thus, they may be reused or fully recycled. This is a perfect solution for buildings subject to high levels of sustainability requirements.

Furthermore, another new Ruukki® Rain Protect solution was adapted for the panels. The upper joint of the manufactured panels is covered with a special strap which protects them against rain in the course of the installation, even in adverse weather conditions.

Insufficient protection against rainfall in the construction site may break the dry product chain and the drying of materials leads to delays in the installation; thus, it is an expensive issue in terms of both time and money.

This solution is a great help to construction companies because it excludes the additional covering of panels and avoids human error when arrangements are not made for the protection of materials. This solution ensures that the panels remain dry at all stages of the work, as required by the construction rules and regulations. Also, the technical characteristics of the installed dry walls will meet the predicted design characteristics.

AN INNOVATIVE SYSTEM FOR ENSURING HEAT AND TIGHTNESS The certified Ruukki Forma™ system ensures an effective construction. This is a complete wall structure system, where the external wall is formed of the aforementioned tight Ruukki® Energy sandwich panels that satisfy the bearing capacity and leaktightness requirements. The final appearance of the building facade was finished by Liberta Elegant 500 cassettes additionally fixed to the sandwich panels. In accordance with the architect's vision, some of them were assimetrically perforated.

This certified system is characterised by a load calculation methodology proven by testing and the installation instructions. Each part of the system is chosen by Ruukki specialists and the design progress consists of two parts. First, the sandwich panels are chosen for the facades. Then, the metal facade cladding and its fixing solutions were chosen to install on the top of the sandwich panels. In this particular case, Liberta Elegant 500 cassettes with hidden fixing were best suited for the purpose, and some of them were perforated.

Once the products where selected, the sandwich panels and the framework element layouts were prepared, and finally, the metal facade finishing plan was drawn up with all the necessary accessories for the installation of these products.

It should be noted that the metal finishing hung on the sandwich panels may weigh up to 50 kg/m2. Such a weight is distributed only on the external surface of the sandwich panel, and the panels are not drilled through.

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LEED gold laurels awarded to Continental plant project Aušra Narkeliūnienė

NATIONAL PLANT Introduction Undoubtedly, the plant of the German corporation Continental is an object that is significant to the history of our state, and two Presidents of Lithuania visited the plant during the relatively short period of its construction. Namely, the outgoing President Dalia Grybauskaitė was present whan the first foundations of the plant were laid; and President Gitanas Nausėda was present at the opening of the plant.

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The plant is not a new theatre and it is not even a new national stadium. However, the special attention of both Presidents to the object is justified by the important circumstances, i.e. this is one of the largest plants to be built in a greenfield site. In the place chosen for the territory of the plan, i.e. Kaunas FEZ, the development and the related creation of jobs have dealt with a lot of the social issues and particularly such acute problems as migration. "Continental chose Kaunas for several reasons: first, Kaunas is the main centre of industry, electronics and automation manufacturing in Lithuania.

This modern region is abundant in highly qualified specialists, i.e. at least 10 percent of students study Electronics Engineering in Kaunas. Besides this, the region has an appropriate infrastructure. For these

PROJECT INFORMATION: Customer: Continental Automotive Lithuania Project Manager and Designer: Baltic Engineers UAB Head of the Project: Vismantas Jakutis Project Architects: stART studio UAB, architecture, interior, environment management: Head of the Project – Architect Justina Narauskienė, Architects – Martynas Kamarauskas and Arvydas Skudra Landscape Design: Elė Kalvelė Engineering Systems: Baltic Engineers UAB Structure: Inhus UAB: General Contractor: Conresta UAB

reasons, Kaunas seemed to be the ideal place for our new plant," said Shayan Ali, Manager of the plant, in Lithuania during the open ceremony.

Of course, granting the status of a natural object to the plant is unusual. However, its meaning raises no doubts, as there is a new attitude towards employees who are not just hardworking cogs of the system, but are equal partners involved in the development of the product. The working conditions created in the plant meet the highest standards. The plan of the plant suggests that of flexibly planned premises with conference rooms and a lot of common spaces, namely, a rest space, restaurant and an internal yard have been adapted to meet the leisure needs of the employees. According to the Manager of the plant S. Ali, "this plant was designed and constructed with

particular attention to the environment and sustainability.

This is the first design of a Continental Automotive plant to which the internationally recognised golden LEED certificate for the employment of sustainable solutions has been granted". Healthy microclimate conditions, comfortable automated lighting in the workplaces, and cosy work and rest zones have been created for the employees in this building.

The preparation of the design of the Continental plant was entrusted to a young but experienced team from the architectural office StART, run by the Architect Justina Narauskienė. The office was chosen by the main designer of the plant, i.e. Baltic Engineers, which had cooperated with the architects on several occasions in designing other objects.

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"I am glad to confirm that we have complied with the schedule of all the planned work of this design, and that Lithuania has satisfied all our expectations. We managed to accomplish the construction of the plant within 15 months, and set up a strong team of almost 200 specialists during the same period. This is really impressive."

Shayan Ali, Executive Director of Continental Automotive Lithuania.

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DESIGN PROCESS CLOSE TEAMWORK

REQUIRES

The representatives of the plant also invested a considerable amount of time in the design process. "The customer's participation in all stages of the design was direct and continuous. During the entire design period, the Project Manager of Continental spent his time in Vilnius, Kaunas and in the central office of Continental in Frankfurt," said the Architect J. Narauskienė. "The design stage was divided into sections, where each part was approved by the specialists and managers of Continental during creative workshops."

The stages of the architectural part of the design, the design proposals, the technical design and the work design lasted around 8–9 months. Constant teamwork and continuous negotiations for mutual actions and coordination in a 3D environment were carried out with the General Designer of the building, Baltic Engineers UAB. Thus, the design teams had to agree that the work must be carried out within such a short time limit, i. e. some of the design work was carried out in the course of the construction. "It was impossible to avoid corrections," J. Narauskienė shared her experience. "They were influenced by the optimisation of technological processes, as a prompt response to the customer's wishes. Production and warehousing zones cover the largest part of the area; thus, we had to meet the technological requirements, the requirements of our colleague engineers and the fire safety regulations.

We were able to offer more of our solutions for the administrative part of the building, which had to be met by the designers of the engineering systems."

The whole design team consisted of around 40 people, including four architects from StART studio, and the following consultants were also engaged: LEED consultants from Poland, i.e. Visio Architects, for the kitchen technologies the consultants of Gastro-projekt PL, FM Global, etc.

HIGH BENCHMARK Generally, the architectural expression of a plant does not receive considerable attention. What is important is to place all the equipment necessary for technological processes and engineering in a 'box' and ensure that the construction process is completed as quickly as possible. Although a 'brandbook' straightjacket was created for the Continental plant, the architect has pointed out that they managed to achieve an exclusive and original expression, which was also evaluated by the management of the plant as exemplary in terms of the design of the administrative premises and the main facade.

"Yes, we had the so-called brandbook, which needed to be complied with by all the architects designing Continental. The colour, shape, proportion solutions, and of course the quality requirements, were the most restricted. However, the customer was particularly open to new building design trends, with the modern planning of internal spaces and interior solutions (currently, the Headquarters modern office building is being prepared in Hanover); thus, the benchmark set for us was relatively high.

Although the customer applies its corporative standards (colours, materials, shapes) and quality requirements for all his buildings, he accepted the architects' proposals concerning the main facade, where the main entrance is formed by a roof of an irregular shape with broken planes oriented towards the square, and the corporate colour was used. Moreover, the architects were absolutely free to interprete the Continental standards in the creation of the interior of the lounge and office spaces, and remained entirely at liberty to create the interior of the restaurant.

"The customer clearly declared his position to create the maximum comfort for his employees. We have created internal yards for the use of the employees, which also significantly improve the work environment, with natural lighting in the open space offices," maintained the architect.

THE FACELESS 'BOX' IMAGE HAS BEEN AVOIDED The plant has been designed so that an innovative, integrating working environment oriented towards the future needs was created. "As colleagues, we competed with the strong design team of the Hungarian plant, and today we are happy to reveal that the solutions offered by us will be integrated in other new plants being constructed," said the architect.

The surrounding areas of the plant will not make you to feel as if you have arrived at to some typical 'technological box'. The project was developed as part of the Greenfield Investment Project; however, during the 8 months of design work and 15 months of construction work, the greenfield parcel has become a fully urbanised territory with a complex of buildings. This not only concerns the engineering infrastructure but also the social infrastructure, public functions, integrated

green territory, recreational and sport spaces. All of the internal planning of the parcel of land has not been done in isolation from the surrounding territory. Connections to the cycling routes and bus routes of the city are planned, and the arranged square is an open common space for the dwellers of the surrounding areas.

IMPRESSIVE AMBITIONS According to the architect, precise terms of reference for the production and warehousing zones, as well as information on the technical capacity of the equipment and needs, planned employees, logistics and the vehicle flows were received. The design was carried out in accordance with the Continental standards book, the LEED Gold requirements for sustainability of the building, and the more stringent additional fire safety requirements of FM Global. The project and AsBuilt model of the building were created by virtue of the BIM design platform.

The flexible structures of the building are reinforced concrete columns and floor slabs and metal girders. The cover of the roof is made of reinforced concrete plates and a Ruukki profile tin deck. Sandwich type panels, which were also supplied by the representatives of the Finnish concern Ruukki in Lithuania, were used for the walls. The administrative block was built of blocks finished with Ruukki aluminium cassettes. Aluminium facade systems and windows (Reynaers), Clestra display partitions and Rigips plasterboard partitions.

The new plant is in the Kaunas Free Economic Zone, which currently covers a 22 thousand sq. m territory consisting of production, administrative and warehousing premises. All the construction work of the complex added around 23,000 m², so the total volume

is about 200,000 m³; the height of the two-storeyed superstructure is about 17 m; and the energy class is A+. 1,200 spaces for employees each day are planned, while the maximum number of persons who can work at the same time is up to 600, and a 200-seat restaurant is also planned for them. The total area of the complex of buildings is around 23,000 m². The main production building with the warehousing premises occupies 22,000 m² including the administrative premises, the area of which is 6,000 m². A 190 parking lot with spaces for electric cars, green cars, car pool spaces, 50 bicycles and 25 motorcycles has been planned. The area of the garden in the internal yard of the administrative building is 400 m² and the area of the green roof is 300 m². A 1 ha square with greenery, an amphitheatre and a rain garden, as well as a sports and training building with a universal open multifunctional sports ground, are arranged in the surrounding areas of the building.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE INTERIOR AND 'CLEAN' PREMISES The main representative spaces are the lounge and the reception desk. All the production staff pass the lounge every day (around 1,200 employees per day) and the guests or future employees of the plant are welcomed here. Rest spaces with a view of the internal yard of the plant are designed for the employees on the ground floor. The production spaces must be 'clean' and not accumulate a static charge; thus, an ABP conductive epoxide cover and a SIKA epoxide cover were used, along with large format stoneware tiles, PVC roller coverings and carpeting for the common spaces. Rest

and coffee zones with natural light through solarTubes light channels, as well soft furniture were included in the designed for the production space.

The office spaces are also full of multifunctional areas for rest, meetings, training and cooperation; namely, there are meeting rooms and waiting rooms with soft furniture. A 'show room' screen with product exposition and a display wall is designed in the lounge. One of the most impressive spaces is a black lobby and stairs.

The metal stairs have a cantilever structure. Beneath it, there is a rest space, a coffee zone, and decorative wall designed over two floors of the building. If you climb the stairs, a view to the amphitheatre square opens up.

"We have paid considerable attention to the restaurant in our design, as the customer also considers this function very important. The task was to distance ourselves from the standard-type canteen of a plant," the architect told us. Thus, a 200-customer open canteen style restaurant with a self-service food line and several 'pop up' food islands were designed. We tried to create the broadest range of catering zones from bistro to bar tables, with metal chairs near the food dispensing and passage corridors, 'casual style dining' in the family catering hall centre, and restaurant 'fine dining' with massive tables, soft furniture and luminaires. Each zone is designed with the square, landscape and the amphitheatre in view. Besides this, a separate zone for heating food was designed. There is a coffee and a dessert zone near the entrance to the restaurant that may be used for informal meetings with colleagues or guests. The space is simple, with a rectangular layout, and with an industrial style concrete ceiling and open engineering, with an acoustic greyish floor. Neutral colours prevail in the interior. The focus is on the views from the display windows into the internal yard and square, where colourful furniture and accessories are in place. The space is divided by different suspended ceilings and suspension lattice structures with plants.

A SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE HAS BEEN CREATED In addition to the internal spaces, the public outside space is also of particular importance. The square designed in front of the main building covers about a 1 ha area. It is divided into different functional areas, with entrances to the building from the car parks, and bus stations are planned.

This public space is open to all residents of the surrounding areas, and was designed taking into consideration the customer's wish to allocate a space to employees for retreating from their work routine and changing the environment. Different rest zones were designated to create shadowed and sunny places. The landscape in front of the building is formed by the amphitheatre square covered with massive granite slabs from Portugal, with the amphitheatre benches, load bearing walls and stairs of diagonal shapes. A representative space is formed with

"I believe that we can be proud of changing the standard solutions; in particular, the office cooperation spaces have become more open, as we created more liberal, open and modern interior solutions, with more informal and multifunctional spaces."

Architect Justina Narauskienė

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a path to the entrance of the building. The rigid shapes of the building are supplemented by the green 'islands' of the prominent relief. Arrays of trees form shadows and help to provide cooler areas on hot summer days. Granite paved walking paths and park paths lead towards the rain garden and rest terrace. Composite wood boards were used in the sunny spaces facing the rain garden.

RAIN GARDEN AND NATURALLY CREATED ECOSYSTEM The inner garden of the building (400 m²) was created on the basis of forestry principles. The plants were selected and arranged taking into account the amount of light that would be received in the conditions of the closed internal garden. "As the design concept and the LEED requirements state that no artificial irrigation of plants is allowed, special plant species have been chosen," said J. Narauskienė. A lot of deciduous shrubs, namely, white dogwoods, winged spindles, Anglojap yew and multistem birches, were planted. The plants under the trees are composed of the herbaceous plants characteristic of forest areas, ranging from fems to sedges. The inner garden on the second floor (300 m²) was also created as an additional source of natural light and was planted with sedum carpeting. Irrigation systems will not be used for the greenery, plants that grow naturally in Lithuania have been chosen. The hard covers and roofs were designed to intensively reflect the sun rays with a view to avoiding heat islands, and a green roof was designed in one part of the office.

The rain garden is a solution which is very rarely used, and is currently unusual in Lithuania. Water temporarily remains in the garden, but its level fluctuates from drought to standing water. The plants are appropriate and decorative, and the roots of the plants perform a water filtering function. In the blooming meadow environment, trees with ripening fruit are created and this attracts animals ranging from bees to small mammals.

In addition, outdoor spaces for rest, i.e. a sports and training centre, along with a universal sports ground for team games were designed. Open individual sports grounds. No asphalt was used for the outdoor ground cover; instead, only concrete blocks, granite slabs and blocks were used, i.e. materials for intensively reflecting the sunlight were chosen.

CHALLENGES LEED Gold sets particularly high requirements for the materials used in the building and the territory, even including their colours. Thus, the roof of the building and the majority of the colours in the parcel of land are white or grey. The materials used in the object had to have such certificates as EPH and HPD. Finding trees with such certificates became a serious challenge, since the materials prevailing in Europe had the certificates appropriate for LEED v.3 which did not meet the requirements of LEED v.4.

The architectural and engineering solutions of the building had to not only meet the requirements of STR but also the mandatory requirements of the American design standard ASHRAE, which determines what solutions are not typical of the local market.

In addition, the architects faced the challenges of dealing with the high ground water level, and integrating the building and the infrastructure with the existing situation, so a decision to divide the parcel into terraces was made and the whole area of the production building was maintained on one plane.

"Of course, we had to assess ourselves critically and draw conclusions after the construction work of the building was already finished," said the Manager of StART studio. "All the construction processes faced their challenges; thus, if it was possible to change something, changes that would simplify the construction processes would be made."

THE PROJECT HAS EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS The managers of the plant have welcomed the project and the processes taking place during the construction.

"The plant built in Kaunas is a benchmark project for other Continental constructions throughout the world," said the Manager of the plant S. Ali. "The experience we acquired during the project is already being applied in other new Continental plants in Aguascalientes, Mexico and in Debrecen, Hungary. The plant situated in Kaunas is characterised by the most modern technical cleanliness conditions and meets the highest automotive industry standards."

The team of architects who passed such an important test of their professional abilities is also satisfied with the results of their work. "We have received very favourable evaluations and comments from the representatives of Continental. Although we created our design in accordance with the standards of the corporation in relation to the quality of the materials and the functions of the premises, the customer has evaluated our project as more distinguished than all other existing plants of the corporation. This was determined by the interior solutions, accents, materials of the administrative part and the layout of the office spaces. When creating the design, we complied with relatively strict rules but, in certain cases, we started to offer our solutions and we are glad that the customer accepted and allowed us to apply these innovations in a very flexible manner. This is probably what distinguished our plant from the other plants," rejoiced J. NarauskienÄ—.

The choice of the highest level ergonomic work furniture reflects the progressive approach of Continental towards the contemporary workplace, and eloquently demonstrates the company's attention to every employee.

LT.PROJECT was a partner chosen by the Continental company for the preparation of representative leisure and office spaces.

During the project we worked on supplying the furniture for workstations (HAWORTH highest-level ergonomic chairs and HAWORTH adjustable height tables); standard furniture for other spaces including ESD furniture; non-standard furniture solutions; acoustic solutions; lighting of workplaces and decorative lighting.

We represent manufacturers from the USA, Scandinavian and Western European countries that are recognised around the world. Such internationally known companies as Haworth (USA), Lammhults (Sweden), Sedus (Germany), Actiu (Spain) and many other companies appreciate our professionalism and competence and have chosen us as their exclusive

representatives. During the company's 13 years of operations, we have implemented more than 1,000 projects of different scopes and complexities. When creating the solutions and choosing the products necessary for implementation of a project, we carefully choose the suppliers and ensure that the chosen products will meet the requirements for business spaces, and will provide the necessary supporting certificates, reliable warranties and post-warranty maintenance. The business world is dynamic, companies are growing and changing; thus, the business spaces are constantly evolving. Given these changing needs, we are prepared to ensure longterm professional partnerships and the operational maintenance necessary to our customers.

We are a team of professionals who have acquired long-standing experience in the fields of project management and the furnishing of business spaces.

www.ltproject.lt

JSC SKP ALIUMINIS

ALUMINIUM FACADE SYSTEMS FOR EXCEPTIONAL ARCHITECTURE JSC SKP Aliuminis was established in 2007. The successful operations of the company have led to the development of its activities, it has rapidly grown, and its sales and production volumes have increased.

The success of SKP Aliuminis is determined by its cooperation, competence, responsibility and more than ten years of experience in the implementation of projects of different complexities.

Modern production technologies, high-quality raw materials and production facilities in Lithuania enable the company to offer the best price/quality ratio to customers. Experienced personnel have been working in the company since the date of its incorporation. We seek for constant improvement; thus, we are always looking for new, effective solutions in our field. We try to provide our customers with solutions that are technologically liable, ensure comfort and are modern.

The SKP Aliuminis company manufactured and installed windows and doors of the Reynaers Masterline 8 aluminium profile system for the Continental plant. These products met the strictest requirements applicable for buildings of the high energy efficiency class and the strict Continental requirements for obtaining the LEED certificate. The Concept Wall® 50 facade system with double-chamber glazing, which satisfies both the contemporary sustainability and thermal conductivity needs and is

maximally transparent to allow natural light into the premises, was chosen for the show windows. Concept Wall® 50 is characterised by a diversity of designs for the creation of expressive architecture.

The aluminium curtain walls and windows were installed in a relatively short time corresponding to the concise schedule of the construction work and did not prevent any other construction processes.

Aluminium – glass products: manufacturing and installation.

SKP Aliuminis UAB Chemijos g. 29A, LT-51333, Kaunas, Tel.: + 370 37 43 00 93, E-mail: aliuminis@skp.lt www.skpaliuminis.lt

RAPID TRANSITION TO DIESELHATE

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Lina Svaldenienė

While global trends and the situation in the Baltics might differ, the discussion about “good old” conventional cars and electric vehicles has been similar everywhere: it concerns pollution, efficiency and price. At the Waste Management Forum 2019, Simonas Dunauskas, the environmental analyst with a special interest in electric cars, presented a debate on the popular topic of whether and why electric cars are going to push diesel cars out of the scene.

THREE TYPES Before discussing the issue of pollution, the various types of electric cars ought to be described. The first one is the hybrid, which has a battery and can be charged only on-the-go. It also has an internal combustion engine (ICE). The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) also has an internal combustion engine, but unlike conventional hybrids, PHEVs can be plugged-in and recharged from an outlet. This allows them to drive extended distances using just electricity.

The distance can vary from 50 to 80 kilometres, depending on the specific vehicle and driving style. The third type, the electric vehicle, is fully electric, without an ICE. It can be charged from an outlet.

BATTERIES

Photo: Simonas Dunauskas (by T. Griškevičius)

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When the batteries of electric cars are no longer usable, they still have almost seventy percent of their capacity.

That’s why extensive research is being done to look for new ways to reuse or recycle the batteries of electric cars. This would certainly reduce the demand for additional resources and would help to prevent large amounts of waste, as well as preserving the natural environment.

At the present time, only five percent of lithium-ion batteries are recycled around the world. Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly trendy, and the waste of lithium-ion batteries, an essential part of these vehicles, is going to start piling up. Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects that 559 million vehicles, or

one-third of all cars in use, will be electric by 2040.

S. Dunauskas points out that the quantity of transport vehicles also keeps growing. This means that the demand for metals and other materials, including copper, aluminium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, lithium and manganese, will grow to seven million tonnes per year by 2030. The demand for battery components, such as electrodes and electrolytes, will increase from 0.7 million tonnes last year to more than 10 million tonnes in 2030.

LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENTS From the perspective of a life-cycle assessment, electric cars are the most polluting vehicles in the production stage, especially in relation to the production of the batteries. However, this kind of vehicle redeems its emissions during the usage stage. Moreover, a very important aspect of a life-cycle evaluation is the source of electricity.

Experts have presented the following computations from the European Environment Agency: the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by an electric vehicle during all of its life-cycle, including the manufacturing process, is from 17 to 30 percent lower than the amount of gas discharged by a gasoline-powered vehicle. This calculation was made bearing in mind the sources of energy used in the European Union.

WASTE The maintenance cost of an electric car is lower when compared with the amount that must be spent on a vehicle with a diesel engine. This is because the electric car simply has fewer parts, which gradually wear out because of the constant movement.

Cars with internal combustion engines require regular changes of oil, coolant and gearbox oil. Drive and serpentine belts, as well as turbine and spark plugs must also be replaced from time to time. Electric vehicles don’t need any of this, so they don’t incur expenses for oil and fuel filters. However, both ICE and electric cars need the cabin air filter to be changed periodically.

Both types of vehicles cannot function without tires, windshield wiper fluid, wipers, light bulbs or brake pads. Nonetheless, the brake pads in electric cars wear out much slower because of regeneration (regenerative braking is a system that extends the life of conventional brake parts such as cables and brake pads). Other parts of chassis such as shock absorbers or ball joints are inevitable parts of the car despite the drive type.

Again, the electric vehicle drives without a fuel tank, so it needs no pumps or filters for the fuel supply system.

Electric vehicles do not feature a clutch or a gearbox.

On the other hand, fuel injection systems, as well as exhaust systems with lambda probes and particulate filters, are among the waste products of diesel or petrol cars. To sum up, electric cars are clearly more environmentally friendly in the usage stage.

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BRANDS GIVE UP THE ICE Daimler, the German automotive manufacturing giant that is known for brands like Mercedes, Smart, Setra and others, came out with an announcement in September of 2019 revealing that they are going to stop developing an (ICE). Instead, they are going to put all of their efforts into electric cars. The central focus will be given to electric drives and batteries. Daimler is the 13th biggest company on the list of the best-selling manufacturers of passenger cars.

By the way, Volkswagen Group, the world’s largest auto-maker in terms of sales, which owns the brands Audi, Bentley, Bugatti Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT and Škoda, also announced its intentions to invest in electric cars at an earlier date.

Volkswagen has struggled with “Dieselgate”, a scandal associated with pollution emissions, since September of 2015.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency first announced a violation of the Clean Air Act. The agency stated that the German automobile manufacturers – Volkswagen Group – had intentionally programmed their direct injection engines to activate the control of pollutant emissions only while the laboratory testing of exhaust emissions was taking place. During normative assessments, the vehicles of the Volkswagen Group matched the standards for the emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) according to US regulations, but the same vehicles emitted up to forty times more NOx in everyday conditions. Overall, Volkswagen installed this software in approximately into 11 million vehicles, manufactured from 2009-2016 worldwide.

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New ways to reuse or recycle the batteries of electric cars would certainly reduce the demand for additional resources and would help to prevent large amounts of waste, as well as preserving the natural environment.

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Find more at

UAB “SOFTRA” +370 673 34500 Verkiu st. 34B, LT-08221 Vilnius, Lithuania environment

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TECHNICAL PROGRESS AND CONSEQUENCES

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Audrius ÄŒereĹĄka

Today, the world is full of cars and other vehicles. Everyday life is inconceivable without them.

We have to drive and fly constantly. Vehicles help to do this quickly. These days, most people drive cars, which are a convenient and fast way to get around, but out of town. But what about in the city? In the city, everything is slow and inefficient, especially in the morning and evening.

Statistics show that emissions are growing the most in the transport sector and in agriculture.

Car pollution includes noxious combustion products, fuel leaks, evaporation and so on. In this country, the average car emits approximately 600 kg of carbon monoxide, 75 kg of hydrocarbons, 30 kg of nitrogen oxides and 5 kg of aldehydes per tonne of fuel burned.

The number of cars is increasing, and so is the amount of emissions that are harmful to the environment and human health. Pollution contributes to global warming

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as well. Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the earth caused by greenhouse gases. As the atmosphere gets warmer, glaciers begin to melt. When the water level rises, floods will occur on all shores of the earth. Some islands may end up underwater. Global warming will also cause extreme weather conditions. This is a global problem.

Lithuania has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 9 per cent by 2030.

In order to reduce pollution along with the greenhouse effect, responsible and sustainable solutions that yield good results are needed.

Traffic jams are becoming routine. Reducing pollution requires urgent reorganisation of urban traffic. Big cities have to make fundamental decisions, first and foremost about sustainable planning. Sustainable development plans have to be drawn up.

In order to reduce pollution, it would be useful to consider regulating traffic with artificial intelligence, e.g. managing urban traffic lights – which means controlling traffic flows – through the use of artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence is a powerful instrument. Artificial intelligence differs from conventional computer algorithms in that it can learn, so in performing the same action, it may behave differently depending on previously performed actions.

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ď‚ą

Lithuania has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 9 per cent by 2030. In order to reduce pollution along with the greenhouse effect, responsible and sustainable solutions that yield good results are needed.

ď‚ą

Weaning people away from cars will not work, so in order to reduce pollution, the development of electric cars has to be promoted as intensively as possible.

Electric cars have already become everyday vehicles.

We no longer talk about them in terms of technology of the future – they are already here; this is the present.

The first electric cars appeared around 1880. Cars powered by electricity were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Later, with the emergence of mass car production and trade and fossil fuel getting cheaper, electric cars lost their popularity.

Electric cars started to gain popularity again in 2008, when higher capacity batteries and other technologies were developed, and fossil fuels prices and interest in the environment began to rise. By 2015, 30 companies worldwide were already offering these cars. Most of them are sold in the United States, Japan, China and Western Europe.

Each country promotes the development of electric cars in its own way. Some companies and states have created financial opportunities for residents to purchase vehicles that use this technology at a lower price (Norway, Germany), while others dole out exclusive rights for parking and driving in the city centre. Others do nothing.

Electric cars are still expensive, the infrastructure is underdeveloped, and the driving range is not good enough to satisfy everyone.

The time has come when there is nothing else to wait for. Humanity must take the lead in reducing car pollution: living and transport habits have to gradually be changed, the need to own a car has to be limited, and public transport and vehicles that do not use fuel have to be utilised more.

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CIRCULAR ECONOMY OF PLASTICS AND RUBBER IN INDUSTRY 4.0

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Sonata JociutÄ—

The plastic waste problem is both dramatic and serious. In all the developments that have been made over the years looking for the perfect products, we have focussed on the best functionality and the best pricing, but we have forgotten to think about recyclability. That’s why nowadays, the hottest topic for the entire plastic and rubber industry is the sustainable development of a circular economy. Besides this, there are other important topics: digitalisation of the value chain, the whole topic of Industry 4.0, system integration, and developing young talent for the future industry.

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WORKING ON SOLUTIONS The key topic is a circular economy and creating plastics that can ensure sustainable development. The issue of emitting plastic waste and packing waste into the environment has been discussed in the media and among the broader public for quite some time now, and for very good reasons, and the plastic industry is taking this debate very seriously. Every stakeholder in the industry is trying to work on solutions in order to make it possible to use and produce plastic in a more sustainable way, and to organise a circular economy with digitisation at the forefront. The level of digital interconnectivity can influence your company’s success, and everyone can agree that digitalisation is an important tool in terms of traceability and transparency.

Together with digitalisation, sustainability and new materials are closely linked. In order to

come up with the right concepts for a circular economy, such as end-of-life solutions, we need data and that also comes through digitalisation.

CHEMCYCLED PLASTIC We have a global problem with plastic waste in the environment.That is why in June 2018, the Alliance to end plastic waste was founded.

At this moment, there are more than 40 plastic companies involved in the value chain in all the Baltic States. However, there’s been total commitment of more than 1.5 billion dollars to make improvements in this area, with more than 12 demonstration projects to form infrastructure systems that will collect and separate plastic waste and that will promote awareness and new concepts of recycling.

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The Alliance is working on a new recycling concept – ChemCycling plastic – that takes mixed plastic waste and chemically processes it back down to the base components like naphtha or kerosene oil, before feeding it back into the manufacturing process and recreating plastic materials again. It’s a complete 100% circular process ending with a material that is identical to the virgin material. Schneider Electric that manufactures millions of circuit breakers every year is changing its production line from virgin plastic to ChemCycled plastic, in order to increase recycling. The products that come back into the loop may have been utilised for 20 or 30 years. The regulations for chemical substances will have been different at that time, and phthalate, brominated compounds and halogens are not allowed today due to current regulations. Thus, chemical recycling is a very appealing and interesting solution, because it will allow for some recycling features which were non-existent before.

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MATERIAL COMBINATIONS The BASF Company, together with Alliance members, is presenting a new motor home where natural material and plastic materials, slate and polyurethane, hemp and polyurethane are combined to give a new concept to circular designs and circular recycling through innovative material combinations. This VisionVenture Concept Camper will be available on the market in 2025.

Adidas is presentingthe FUTURECRAFT. LOOP100% recyclable high-performance running shoe made from a single polymeric material – thermoplastic polyurethane. It is very complicated to put all the pieces together out of one material, but it means a circular approach to designing a high performance shoe with the same characteristics as the original.

The new sunglasses integration system is very impressive and the glasses can be easily recycled because they are made out of only one type of plastic.

A pair of sunglasses takes only 45 seconds to make with a plastic injection moulding machine.

A worldwide investment in the expansion of these innovations ranks particularly high on our list, especially in relation to extruders and extrusion lines, injection moulding machines as well as the machinery and equipment for reclamation and recycling.

Synthetic elastomer is used in a number of products and quite a bit of it ends up in the automotive industry, either in tyres or for performance parts like those needed for the cooling systems in ceilings. The types of cars are changing, and future mobility solutions are looking to solutions that will reduce the energy needs and find sustainable solutions for end-of-life processes. This will require a lot of will power but also innovations. Better energy efficiency for tyres, improving the fuel efficiency of cars and moving towards electric vehicles all require new product solutions that will allow for sustainability.

ALONG THE VALUE CHAIN The plastics and rubber industry has succeeded in proving once again that plastics are not only very valuable materials with outstanding properties, but also that this industry will assume responsibility along the entire value chain. The companies working in the plastic or rubber sector must reorganise and reshape their processes, in order to deliver more efficient and more effective products to customers. During the implementation of Industry 4.0 we need to gain a deeper knowledge of chemistry. This

small paradigm change could define the vision for the future. That why innovative companies must show young people how attractive this industry is, and what kind of specific professional roles they can play, from the mechanical side to the highest academic level.

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“Memel wood” - your professional guide to the world of interior design!

History of our company - “Memel Wood” - derives from as far back as in the year of 2005. Our workshop was established in the city of Klaipeda, Republic of Lithuania. We manufacture pieces of furniture and interior design items from classical to Hi-tech, practically of any complexity. At our production facilities we make both mass and one-of-a-kind products.

With the course of time, the plant has grown up to a modern manufacture occupying more than 3 000 sq. m. Two years ago, a full modernization with the implementation of the latest equipment (CNC 5-axis wood-machining centre “Homag”; CNC machine “Holz”; CNC edge banding machine “Homag”; 3-axis mobile CNC engraving miller “BZT”; coating booths “Nestro”; four-sided planing and moulding CNC machines “Kuper”, and etc.) was conducted.

Our services: design and furniture engineering; wood sawing; veneer coating; wood carving; painting and polishing; gilding: gold leaf and Dutch foil; artificial aging of the surface.

In manufacturing, we use the most ecological and safe materials. On a constant basis we exert control over the quality, which has impact on the duration of serviceability of our products.

Highly qualified members of our team have been doing their work in an accurate and reliable manner. Our experience allows us to provide services and goods only of the highest quality. We want a client who comes to us for the first time to become our client forever.

We pay major attention to joiner’s work traditions, which take a special place in our work. We have gathered an inspirational team of joiners, wood carvers, specialists in painting and gilding, who have excellence at their finger tips.

Taking part in the creation of new structures of historical and national-cultural heritage, as well as in the preservation and restoration thereof is one of the most exciting business areas of “Memel Wood”. We are proud of our successful projects and appreciate the most positive feedbacks from our customers.

Our designers and constructors are familiar not only with classic solutions in furniture design, but are always up to date with new products in the world of design, constantly monitoring fashion trends.

Based on your preferences, we shall offer something special for you, something that will reflect your inner world. We shall make your interior comfortable, cosy and beautiful.

Each product is made with love, can be unique and emphasize your personality.

We let our customers dream about the seemingly impossible, and implement boldest and most unusual projects. We take care of their implementation from the moment of the design completion to the end-product installation in various, even remote parts of the world.

That is why we are confident in offering you what the market does not even have yet, whereby the quality of our products sets us apart from other market players.

Want your visitors to keep coming back to you and give recommendations to their friends and acquaintances? Our company has an extensive experience in the manufacture of specialized furniture for public interior: hotels and restaurants, sports clubs and shops.

We shall create a unique atmosphere of comfort, style and elegancy for you.

“Memel Wood” is your professional guide to the world of interior design! environment 52

Our company’s motto:

Your idea - our work.

“Memel Wood” strives for the individuality of each project and helps create dream interiors. Owing to co-operation with architects and interior designers, our furniture has inimitative and individual style.

Together with us you: ⌂⌂ save money - we shall help you understand a huge variety of design solutions and select the best one for you. Further, we shall consider all aspects and your wishes, down to the smallest detail;

⌂⌂ have plenty of choice - we shall offer customised solutions of furniture and interior items, both for a private sector and for commercial and public facilities, i.e., offices, cafes, restaurants, hotels and business centres;

https://www.memelwood.lt/

⌂⌂ save your time - we stick to total support principle at each stage of cooperation, whereby an individualised approach enables us to exclude unnecessary options while leaving most suitable ones only;

info@memelwood.lt

⌂⌂ get a warranted European quality welcome to our production facilities to make yourself certain of the highest quality of our products!

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WOODEN FURNITURE EXPORTS KEEP GROWING

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Lina Svaldenienė

The Lithuanian furniture and wood processing industry has a deep-rooted tradition of manufacturing excellent products. The welldeveloped industry produces a broad range of furniture. As the governmental agency Enterprise Lithuania revealed, the majority of those products (85.2 %) are exported.

GIANTS SET THE TONE Lithuania is the fifth biggest IKEA supplier in the world – and giant companies tend to establish particular trends for the future development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For example, IKEA has announced that all of the polyester in its furniture textiles will be recycled. “Of course, this sets the tone for all manufacturers of furniture textiles, so we need to re-orientate toward recycled polyester as well,” said Ilana Mackelienė, Business Executive of the Audėjas company, at the furniture and design exhibition in Litexpo in October of 2019.

Yet another trend, which already exists among the manufacturing branches for furniture, is innovative production methods. The modern furniture and particleboard factories in Kazlų Rūda have now been operating for ten years, while a new and expanded furniture factory will reopen this September. The new employees are highly skilled operators, and all manual work has been mainly replaced by automatic operations.

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The furniture industry accounts for about 2.5 percent of the GDP, while employing about 27 thousand workers or nearly 3 percent of the country‘s total employment. The furniture industry in Lithuania is the fourth-largest export industry.

(Enterprise Lithuania)

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WATCHING ROBOTS WORK Jorgen Drie, the robot technician at another IKEA factory in Sweden, tells us how PAX wardrobes are packed in his workplace: “We purchase all the raw materials, and then it is pretty much just a case of pouring them into one end of the factory, and the complete packages come out at the other end. These are the same packages that the customer buys in a store.”

J. Drie is responsible for the management and maintenance of the robots. There are thirty robots in this facility, employed in various manufacturing steps and lines. Their capacity is approximately is 7.5 wardrobes per minute.

This translates to 2.6 million wardrobes per year.

“Today, we have thirty robots and remote servicing on all thirty. Any stops in the production process cost us money – it is

as simple as that – and this is something we want to avoid. Remote servicing spells security,” said the Maintenance Manager.

J. Drie tells a story about how an ABB remote service technician called him personally to warn him that a fan in a robot control cabinet was not working properly. A new fan was sent to the factory before the old one broke down and negatively affected any of the production steps.

SMART SERVICE ADDS VALUE The previous example shows how practical the Internet of Things can be. Robots working non-stop are connected in between and to remote services. Thus, the facilities are constantly under observation and the service personnel can react before the manufacturing

process stops, which adds major value.

“This Industry 4.0 feature replaces a regular employee, who typically sits in a factory and waits for machinery failure,” pointed out Valdas Jablonskis, Sales Manager in the Lithuanian affiliate of ABB, one of the leading concerns in worldwide robotics. “The first three industries in the world to employ large numbers of robots in their manufacturing processes are automotive, electronics and metalworking industries,” he said.

“The wood processing industry should also be included at the end of the list of digitised, automated and robotised sectors.

In Lithuania, when we take a look at the

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numbers – how many people work in the industry and how many products it creates – it is obvious we could have twice as many wood processing factories as we have now,” V. Jablonskis assured us.

ENVIRONMENT OF INNOVATION V. Jablonskis has noticed that much of the workforce in this sector is engaged in monotonous and tedious tasks. According to the Sales Manager of ABB, the wood processing industry in Lithuania is not sufficiently efficient or optimised.

In an Industry 4.0 factory operating through automated mass production, the characteristic features of Industry 3.0 are transformed into a smart factory, producing unique, custom ordered pieces by completely automated means. Therefore, the workers develop the new skills and capabilities required in a smart factory. An employee in the wood processing and furniture industry meets the same requirements and expectations as a worker in any other industry sector in a smart factory.

They must know about IT, coding, robotics, computer-aided design and production (CAD/ CAM), network security and big data. Besides this, smart factory workers are expected to act confidently in an environment of change and innovation, and should be able to learn by themselves and train others.

EXPORT VALUES ARE GROWING Talking about numbers, around nine hundred companies are active in the furniture and wood processing industry, and the vast majority of them are SMEs. The furniture industry accounts for about 2.5 percent of the GDP, while employing about 27 thousand workers or nearly 3 percent of the country‘s total employment, according to Enterprise Lithuania.

The furniture industry in Lithuania is the fourth-largest export industry. Furniture exports, together with grain, plastics and machinery, grew the fastest in the second

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quarter of 2019. Generally, the value of the exports of all Lithuanian origin products to the target markets exceeded 6.2 percent during that quarter, with the German and French markets experiencing the greatest growth.

The growth of exports in Germany was largely generated by furniture and vehicles.

Furthermore, the value of exports in the furniture and wood processing industry mostly grew because of the fast expansion of furniture exports. This accounted for 91.8 percent of the growth in the value of annual exports in this industry. The export value per year in the second quarter of 2019 is estimated to be 640.6 million euros.

TARGET MARKETS IN EUROPE Three-quarters of all Lithuanian furniture and wooden products were exported to the EU market, while only 1.2 percent of all products sales occurred in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). According to statistics, the biggest flow of products in the second quarter of 2019 went to Sweden (13.3%), Germany (12.5%) and the UK (9.7%). The value of exports also grew substantially in the German, Italian and Polish markets. The lion’s share of these exported goods consisted of furniture, while nearly three percent of exported goods were mattresses and the related accessories.

Lithuanian companies manufacture kitchen furniture, living room furniture, bathroom furniture, furniture parts, seats and sofabeds, office furniture and other products. The fastest-growing branch of the industry is the furniture which falls into the “other” category, which mostly consists of wooden furniture. The exports of these products have grown by13 percent each year and generate 306.4 million euros. This branch has also determined almost all the growth in the export value of furniture industry products.

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Reward of the Old Handicraft of Weaving is Comfort The belief that one of the oldest handicrafts, i.e. weaving, will soon disappear is not justified.

Today, knowledge of weaving techniques are flourishing again and have incorporated the modern features of Lithuania. Weavers are not merely restricted to producing outdoor and household woven items, and do not need to focus on modern home interiors. The products of the Dyda company, i.e. hand-made wicker pouffes, combine the old traditions and the daily life of a modern home.

We have preserved its nature According to historians, weaving as a handicraft is as old as history, and its origins are even older than the origins of pottery. It is extraordinary that the weaving techniques, raw materials and the structures have changed very little over the centuries. Only the shapes and purposes of these articles have changed, i.e. some woven items have moved from the household to much more splendid spheres.

The villages of Lithuania have been proud of their weavers from the very beginning; each weaver was characterised by his/her own weaving techniques, patterns and shapes. Woven fences, baskets, bast-shoes, cradles and other household articles marked the daily lives of people in the countryside. However, wicker items did not stay in the modest countryside environment of Lithuania for long, i.e. the beauty and practicality of these articles were also appreciated by the aristocracy, while wicker articles and furniture were found in estates, presbyteries and the homes of rich city dwellers. Weaving was made rather uniform and was standardised during Soviet times, but has been revived with a new force in the years since independence, i.e. each weaver has started to look for unique expressions, along with more original ways of making their articles distinguishable among the abundant items.

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100% ecological In Lithuania, generally speaking, the basket willow (Salix viminalis) which is a quick growing and very old plant is used for weaving.

This absolutely clean and organic material is unquestionably a main advantage of the weaving technique. Fittingly, there is a joke that the weaver’s shop is most commonly found on the shore of a lake or river, where the quick growing bushes are found. Ecological advocates who are concerned about wasted plant materials can also rest assured. The willows grow unbelievingly quickly, regenerate with great force and when the branches are cut every year this not only strengthens the root system of the bush, but also makes the bushes more dense.

The environmental-friendliness of the material becomes even greater due to fact that only a small number of tools, i.e. a knife or shears, are sufficient for the weaving techniques. The willow wicker is cut, sorted and gathered into bundles. Technologies providing the most modern options have almost nothing to do here, because a good weaver takes the approach of not using any auxiliary items and collecting the wicker intuitively, at random. As the trend of hand-made and natural products is growing, such an approach is becoming increasingly acceptable. Each hand-made article is valued for its unique features, and an asymmetrical shape is even seen as an advantage proving the authentic work of the creator.

Modestly Lithuanian and functional Lithuanian wicker articles, like the majority of other ethnographic articles of the Lithuanian people, are modest, characterised by soft patterns, and are mainly created of noncoloured natural wicker. However, as an ancient or artificially-aged appearance has become increasingly popular, the weavers have decided to keep up with fashion; they give an ancient appearance to their articles by using non-debarked wicker for the weaving.

Many modern wicker articles are outside of the boundaries of auxiliary household articles which, generally, consisted of baskets a long time ago. Wicker furniture which is particularly lightweight, aesthetic and perfect for yards, terraces and the home has become especially popular. Wicker furniture is mainly used for practice purposes so far, but sometimes such furniture may be seen as a work of art.

As the trend for ecology and moderate consumption has emerged, the majority of furniture manufacturers have focussed on multifunctionality of their articles. If you wish, the willow wicker pouffes offered by the Dyda company, which are comfortable for sitting on, can also be used as storage chests or cat beds. Such furniture satisfies the expectations of any purpose because it is made of entirely natural, organic materials: willow wicker from an organic farm is used for the shape and natural oak and cow leather are used for the bottom.

Dyda values the ecological value, handiwork, environmental-friendliness and long-lasting characteristics of the article; thus, it is not oriented toward quick mass production. The company offers pouffes in two natural colours, i.e. light and dark, and promises to produce them within one month. Another conscious aim of the Lithuanian company is to offer as many jobs to disabled people as possible.

https://www.dyda.lt/

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Since the beginning of 2016, the mobile STEAM laboratory – Infomobile – has been open for Lithuanian students and anyone interested in engineering, in order to encourage young people to choose vocational training, higher education and a career in the engineering sector.

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STEAM LABORATORY INVITES KIDS TO LEARN ABOUT ENGINEERING

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NEW FEATURES Coordinated by LINPRA, the STEAM laboratory visits Lithuanian schools, educational institutions, city festivals and other open events. The aim of this initiative is to attract and encourage young people to pursue vocational training, higher education and careers in engineering.

The Infomobile, which is 17.5 metres long, is equipped with state-of-the-art engineering technologies that can be tested by the Infomobile visitors in a hands-on manner. As the industry is progressing and developing rapidly, the STEAM laboratory equipment has been renewed this year with funding from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Today, the Infomobile features a range of advanced engineering technologies: computers and software, 3D printers, Internet of Things, automated smart production line (robots and a conveyor), laser cutting machine, mobile electric lab, laser field projector, welding simulator, virtual reality

goggles, lathes and milling machines, various training stands and other educational equipment.

SCHOOL VISITS By using a bicycle-generator, you can see the difference in the electricity consumption in different environments, and learn that classic crafts such as milling and drilling will continue to be needed in the future, together with modern technologies. Here, students can learn directly about the worlds of science and mathematics and technology art (design), discover the speciality areas in the engineering industry, and understand the work processes of professionals.

Last summer, the renewed Infomobile was introduced to Vilnius residents in the Town Hall Square, and also appeared at different events, festivals, career days in universities, etc. It is an encouraging sign that this autumn, the Infomobile has been receiving a lot of interest from individual schools in Lithuanian regions and in big cities.

For the purposes of vocational guidance, LINRA initiates educational events for young people in the cities of Lithuania called “Engineering Industry Days”. The STEAM laboratory – Infomobile – will continue to visit schools in the upcoming seasons.

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Coordinated by LINPRA, the STEAM laboratory visits Lithuanian schools, educational institutions, city festivals and other open events. The aim of this initiative is to attract and encourage young people to pursue vocational training, higher education and careers in engineering.

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE: STAY SAF Lina Svaldenienė

If we examine how human consciousness influences occupational safety, the fundamental question would be – do human beings tend to behave safely? Most probably, not. That’s why the subject of occupational safety exists. Can it be an interesting subject, you ask? Yes, it can, if you dig deeper under the pile of instructions.

CONSCIOUSLY BREAKING THE RULES At the Waste Management 2019 conference, which covered a wide range of issues from the environment to community movements, Raimedas Burba, Head of the Advisory environment

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Department at the Lithuanian and German company Tuvlita, presented some intriguing issues about occupational safety.

People want to accomplish their duties quickly, they want to make their work simpler, and moreover, they tend to think they know everything. These tendencies can make workers skip steps or even whole stages, while also ignoring the details.

Employees think they can rush and nothing will happen, so just this one time they can go into the machinery without switching it off and successfully clean it or fix something inside.

This attitude is what prepares the way for terrible accidents. The fact that deaths occur in work sites is undeniable, but workers keep breaking the rules even when they are aware of all the safety instructions.

FE FOR YOUR FAMILY’S SAKE

FAKE IMPROVEMENTS Raimedas Burba points out that workers who are very well-informed still engage in dangerous activities, which leads to occupational accidents. To sum up, the traditional measures just do not work. “When I talk to lawmakers and ministry officials, I usually ask them an uncomfortable question,” he said. “Don’t you see that everything you have created or changed has had absolutely no impact on the statistics concerning occupational safety?”

The officials brag about the decreasing incidence of unfortunate accidents. There

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used to be eighty deaths per year, so forty-five to fifty per year truly seems an improvement.

But the expert argue this statistic isn’t really an improvement at all. The rest of the dreadful accidents are hidden under the changing circumstances of the labour market, particularly due to immigration.

BIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND In the Baltics, there are particular companies with foreign capital that apply a zeroaccidents policy. Their standards and expectations for occupational safety are much higher than the local ones. However,

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DRIVEN BY THE LIMBIC SYSTEM the chief executives of these enterprises encounter the same problem. Despite all of their formal efforts, money and time spent on occupational safety, including the introduction of guidelines, training, posters, and signs, as well as safety equipment, the workers are still getting injured.

American scientists have looked at the problem from another perspective. They have left the traditional applications of occupational safety behind, as they did not trust that these policies, procedures, requirements and passed tests can guarantee the safety of workers at a plant or a site. Instead, they have looked for other aspects than knowledge that can affect occupational safety. It seems that these other aspects are biologically determined.

Our brain is structured differently than the brains of the other creatures on planet Earth.

We have an advanced part of the brain, called a neocortex. This neocortex is responsible for all our rational and analytical thoughts.

Text, other information, and its perception make the neocortex work. The neocortex answers the question “What if?”, and it helps with reasoning. So why do people operate an angle grinder without safety glasses or a face shield, even when they know sparks or chips can get into their eyes? Their behaviour is not led by what they know... Instead, human beings act as their limbic system tells them to, while the neocortex with all of its wisdom stays quiet.

Now it is clear that the core challenge for the employer is to turn on the employees’ limbic systems in a way that will ensure their

People want to accomplish their duties quickly, they want to make their work simpler, and moreover, they tend to think they know everything. These tendencies can make workers skip steps or even whole stages, while also ignoring the details.

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occupational safety. Nobody has an exact answer as to how to accomplish this. The limbic system does not understand language, so it may seem to be useless in terms of occupational safety. How frustrating it is to realise that the majority of the current safety measures have so little to do with really safe working practices!

PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT IS THE KEY All over the world workers keep getting injured, and the experts keep looking for efficient ways to address the proper part of the brain. This discourse has become widespread in the strata where it matters, and the best suggestion so far has been to activate the limbic part of the brain by

stimulating emotions. When occupational safety becomes a very personal issue, as every manager must know, it really matters to the employees.

Emotions can spark the motivation to work safely. By “motivation” however, R. Burba doesn’t mean a sign on the front door of the company saying “we have worked without accidents for x days” nor prizes or rewards, nor even financial benefits. A gift card or travel mug definitely isn’t personal, and being personal is the key here.

The theory that a reward (or a predictable punishment) leads to behavioural changes crashes into pieces when we look at smoking.

The experts place ugly and shocking pictures on cigarette packs, which are supposed to repel a smoker. Though people who smoke perfectly understand the risks and the

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damage they are doing to their own health, they keep smoking and ignore what the neocortex tries to tell them. The limbic system rules – smoke! – and a person does it.

CONCEPT OF COMPLETED WORK When an employee comes to work, she has a particular task – let’s say, production. Her employer should perceive that the task has been safely and appropriately completed when a worker afterward sits down at the table to eat dinner with her family or meets her significant other, or does whatever she feels

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is important, pleasing and fulfilling. Therefore, the message that should spin around in a worker’s head all day long is: this is what I value and I must do my job safely to get it, and to keep it. Keeping oneself safe for the sake of one’s children, wife, home or friends differs greatly from keeping oneself safe because the legislation obliges it, or because the worker doesn’t want to ruin the statistics on a board.

Basically, an employee should see the broader picture, which is a personal picture.

She does not want to be injured not only for herself, for trouble and incapacity. A failure of occupational safety must be intertwined with the perception of the suffering that the employee’s family will endure.

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