Tag Archives: Carbon footprint

CIMdata on Addressing the Cost of Sustainability During Early Product Development

Mark Reisig, CIMdata’s Sustainability & Green Energy Practice Director and PLM Green contributor, has authored a new commentary on “Addressing the Cost of Sustainability During Early Product Development.”

In his opening Mark summarizes key takeaways of the paper:

“Effectively addressing sustainability factors throughout the product lifecycle is becoming a critical business imperative. Customers increasingly expect products—and the processes behind their development, delivery, and operation—to align with ever more stringent sustainability standards.

Companies that embed sustainability evaluations early in their development process and across their supply chain will have a competitive advantage in the marketplace, improve their efficiency and resiliency, and meet sustainability goals, which leads to long-term profitability

Manufacturers across all industries need to adopt an integrated approach to calculating both cost and carbon footprint earlier in their design and development processes.”

Other topics covered in the commentary include:

  • The Current State of Addressing the Sustainability Challenge
  • Solving the Sustainability Challenge
  • Carbon Footprint Calculators
  • Teamcenter Solutions from Siemens Industrial Software
  • Integration for Comprehensive Digital Twins
  • Applying an Integrated Strategy for Sustainability and Efficiency

The full commentary along with useful references may be downloaded HERE.

PLM and Life Cycle Assessment

Summary & Goals

The goal of the PLM Green discussion forum and working group on Product Life Cycle Assessment (PLCA), led by Klaus Brettschneider, is to investigate, validate, and promote the use of PLM-enabling business strategies and software technologies that can reduce the impact of products on the environment, most notably greenhouse gas emissions.

Product Life Cycle Assessments are pivotal in environmental protection, surpassing the singular focus on carbon impact and climate change. While carbon emissions are undeniably significant contributors to environmental degradation, PLCAs comprehensively evaluate a product’s environmental footprint throughout its entire life cycle. This holistic approach considers greenhouse gas emissions and factors like resource extraction, manufacturing processes, transportation, product use, and end-of-life disposal.

By scrutinizing each stage, PLCAs provide a nuanced understanding of a product’s overall impact, enabling businesses and consumers to make informed decisions. This broader perspective allows for identifying additional environmental stressors beyond carbon emissions, fostering more sustainable practices, and contributing to a well-rounded environmental conservation strategy.

We within the PLM Green Global Alliance will explore and document the role, potential, and value of PLM in addressing the challenge of limiting the impact of products on the sustainability of our planet’s environment.

Theme Moderators

Klaus Brettschneider

klaus@plmgreenalliance.com

Focus & Objectives

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) strategies are crucial in facilitating and enhancing Product Life Cycle Assessments (PLCAs). PLM involves systematically managing a product’s entire lifecycle, from conception and design to manufacturing, use, and disposal. PLM provides a structured framework for organizing product-related data, streamlining communication across different stages, and ensuring process consistency.

When integrated with PLCAs, PLM strategies enable a more efficient and accurate assessment of environmental impacts. PLM systems help capture and centralize relevant data at each stage of a product’s lifecycle, making evaluating factors such as materials used, energy consumption, and waste generation easier. This integration promotes sustainability by facilitating informed decision-making, allowing businesses to optimize processes, reduce environmental footprints, and design products with a more comprehensive understanding of their lifecycle impacts.

PLM strategies, software, processes, and data act as the foundation for performing effective Product Life Cycle Assessments, enabling businesses to align environmental considerations with product development and management best practices.

Invitation to Participate & Collaborate

To participate in our PLM Green theme study group on PLCA we invite you to first join the PLM Green LinkedIn Group then contact our moderator Klaus Brettschneider.

References & Resources

Here below we have started maintaining a curated list of featured white papers, blog posts, presentations, case studies, webinars, and interviews on the role of PLM-enabling technologies in performing product lifecycle assessments. We invite you to send us examples you have come across in your own work, company, industry, or country to info@plmgreenalliance.com.

Life Cycle Assessments for Design Engineers in NPD and R&D - The latest PLM Green Global Alliance post is authored by Klaus Brettschneider, principal moderator for our Life Cycle Assessment study theme and Director of Sustainability Products for PLM consultancy Linx-AS. Engineers and designers in New Product Development (NPD) and Research & Development (R&D) play a critical role in shaping the… Continue Reading
PLM Green Announces Life Cycle Assessment Theme - The PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA) announces that a new focus theme on Product Life Cycle Assessment has been established to be led by PLM Green founding moderator Klaus Brettschneider. PLM Green’s mission is to educate, advocate, and collaborate across the boundaries of technical disciplines, different industries, and international borders… Continue Reading
PLM Tools to Design for Sustainability - This month we are pleased to feature a guest blog submitted by PLM Green Global Alliance follower Roger L. Franz. who shares a few things he has learned as a Principal in Engineering Information Technology when beginning to explore the state of PLM tools to Design for Sustainability. Design for… Continue Reading
Discussing Sustainability with Sustaira - The PLM Green Global Alliance recently hosted its fourth interview and panel discussion exploring how PLM-enabling technologies support the sustainability imperative. These interviews expand upon our earlier articles on the Intersection of PLM and Sustainability by examining the progress towards sustainability being made by solution providers, their consulting partners and… Continue Reading
Dassault Systèmes Introduces Life Cycle Assessment Solution - VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France — February 24, 2022 — Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, DSY.PA) today announced the launch of “Sustainable Innovation Intelligence,” its life cycle assessment solution that enables companies to minimize the environmental impacts of the products, materials and processes they create and help drive the circular economy. Fully embedded in… Continue Reading
Discussing Sustainability with PLM Solution Provider SAP - The PLM Green Global Alliance recently hosted its first in a series of panel discussions and interviews that will explore sustainability topics with enterprise PLM solution providers. These forums will extend our recent article on the Intersection of PLM and Sustainability where we next hope to learn about examples of… Continue Reading
Digital Sustainability: The Path to Net Zero from Autodesk - The whitepaper "Digital Sustainability: The Path to Net Zero for Design & Manufacturing and Architectural Engineering & Construction Industries" explores the growing importance of sustainability goals for companies in AEC and MFG markets across Europe. Frost & Sullivan in partnership with Autodesk published this whitepaper with results of a quantitative… Continue Reading
European Green Digital Coalition Launched - Members of the new European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC) are committing to establish science-based targets for reducing GHG by 2030 and to become climate neutral or net-zero no later than 2040. Announced by the European Commission: "The CEOs of 26 European companies have signed a Declaration to support the Green… Continue Reading

The Role of PLM in Tracking Carbon Footprint

Posted on by
4

In Part 1 of this series of posts from the PLM Green Global Alliance on the Role of PLM in Slowing Climate Change we identified four primary opportunities to employ Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in reducing, mitigating, or adapting to climate change from human-generated Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, most importantly CO2. These four areas for using PLM strategies and solutions are in: developing Green Products, generating Green Energy, reducing Carbon Footprints, and adapting to Climate Change.

In this new Part 2 we will begin to examine one of those in more detail; the use of PLM-enabling technologies to collect, calculate, track, report, and most importantly reduce the carbon footprint of products and processes. This capability then enables a full and accurate accounting for the carbon footprint of individual companies, entire industries, and national economies that supply, produce or consume these products or services. It may very well prove to be the most important contribution of PLM by helping to lower emissions and slow climate change for the benefit of future generations to come.

Continue reading →