Biography
Cathalijn van Rijmenam has spent her career on both sides of the energy equation; first on the supply side — processing and refining hydrocarbons — at Royal Dutch Shell, and now helping industry use it smarter, at Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
Starting as a process engineer, she optimised LNG plants and refinery units in various countries — building a hands-on understanding of industrial operations; what energy really costs, where it is wasted, and where the greatest potential for change lies.
That operational foundation now informs her work at Siemens Smart Infrastructure's Sustainability business, where she develops energy management and decarbonisation solutions and services for clients navigating rising costs and tightening emissions targets. In this capacity, she has also worked as programme manager for Siemens' own decarbonisation programme, enabling the energy transformation of several large factories.
What she has learned, across continents and industries, is that the best energy solutions are never just technical. They start with understanding the business — and the people running it.
Presentation
Energy management in glass manufacturing has long centred on the furnace — and rightly so. Yet as the industry faces pressure to decarbonise, manage volatile energy costs, and navigate large-scale electrification, the rest of the plant is emerging as an equally important opportunity.
Siemens brings a consistent insight to glass manufacturing: energy performance starts with knowing exactly what you consume, understanding what that data reveals about your energy system, and acting on the energy flexibility it unlocks.
This session explores how this translates to the glass plant:
Measure — An Energy Management System delivers granular, real-time visibility across both production processes and facility infrastructure — compressed air, chillers, and boilers. Defining, harmonising, and uniformly reporting energy measurement points, with the involvement of automation control, is a significant challenge that Siemens knows how to address.
Analyse —Two complementary lenses bring the energy picture into focus. Inside the fence, a digital twin of the plant's multi-modal energy system simulates load scenarios, electrification pathways, and decarbonisation strategies — supporting confident investment decisions at site level. Outside the fence, energy market advisory services assess procurement risk, model budget exposure, and evaluate renewable sourcing options including (V)PPAs — ensuring decisions are equally grounded in commercial reality.
Act — With visibility established and the energy system understood from both an operational and commercial perspective, flexibility becomes actionable — shifting and optimising auxiliary loads to reduce peak demand, manage Scope 2 exposure, and ease the burden of electrification. Adjusting the energy procurement strategy and targeted plant asset improvements offer further levers to reduce costs and Scope 1/2 emissions directly.
The furnace is the heart of the glass plant. The opportunity lies in managing the whole body.