SUSTAINair, a project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program, is at the forefront of revolutionizing aviation through its groundbreaking technologies and impactful solutions. SUSTAINair’s aim is to substantially increase the sustainability of the airframe value chain achieving a paradigm shift in aircraft manufacturing. The project’s solutions will bring significant benefits during production, operations, maintenance and EoL (end of life) aspects.
The final conference for the SUSTAINair project will be held on the11th and 12th of June, 2024, in Vienna, Austria. The conference will discuss advanced topics crucihttps://www.sustainair.eu/al to the future of aviation sustainability. Key themes include:
Circular Economy: Highlight the importance of the circular economy for essential aircraft materials, emphasizing sustainable practices in the aviation industry.
Life Cycle of Materials: Understanding the life cycle of materials, recycling processes, and waste reduction is key to fostering a circular approach that aligns with global environmental goals.
Smart Materials for Aircraft: Innovations in materials with unique properties aim to improve aircraft performance, durability, and environmental impact.
Innovative Aircraft Composition: Explore different methods that challenge traditional design and construction paradigms.
Digital Tools for Predictive Maintenance: As technology advances, digital tools enable more effective measures to be taken to combat wear and tear.
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM): New digital solutions for SHM, ensuring the longevity and safety of aircraft components.
This article from the SAP News Center written by Darren West emphasizes the role of the circular economy in achieving net-zero emissions. It states that energy efficiency and renewable energy can only address 55% of greenhouse gas emissions. The remaining 45% are tied to products, materials, and food.
Currently, the linear economy dominates, as only 7.2% of the world’s resources are reused or recycled. Thus, adopting Circular Economy requires significant short-term capital investment, more data, and a collaborative approach.
This article from PTC Arena Solutions discusses the growing role of PLM in sustainable product development and the circular economy. Here are the key points:
PLM has become increasingly important for manufacturers in new product development and introduction, especially in markets with complex products where quality management and compliance regulations are stringent.
The Circular Economy is based on three principles driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature.
PLM is starting to play a critical role in manufacturing companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies.
A survey found that many companies are using more sustainable materials, increasing the efficiency of energy use, and using energy-efficient or climate-friendly machinery.
The author, Joseph Prock, writing for PTC Arena, remarks that the linear model is largely unsustainable. The circular economy, on the other hand, aims to minimize environmental impact by regenerating or reusing materials.
To achieve this, PLM systems can facilitate the transition to the circular economy from the earliest stages of product design.
The European SUSTAINair initiative is to provide the aviation sector with a transition runway to a low-carbon circular economy while tackling the increase in resource consumption, waste, and emissions along the entire aviation component value chain.
The recent project report deliverable “New Recyclate Materials with LifeCycle Impact Assessment” defines Life Cycle Assessment and Circular Economy, and then explores a LCA-CE model for the aviation industry to bring the principles together for assessing the environmental impact of new materials.
In doing so, the authors highlight the growing concerns around sustainability and circular economy, which require improved products that can be used for longer, with multiple life cycles.
The paper was published in “Collaboration in a Data-Rich World” the proceedings from the18th IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises. It may be downloaded HERE.
“At CIMPA, we strongly believe that innovation and sustainability make for a powerful combination and that PLM can be leveraged as a seamless, intelligent and collaborative system that enables companies to design, manufacture, and service products (SLM) in a sustainable and profitable way.”
In this article from Patrice Quencez, Director Consultant of CIMPA PLM Services and PLM Green Circular Economy (CE) contributor, discusses the deployment, completion, and reinforcement of PLM capabilities to meet sustainability stakes of complex systems with long lifecycles, such as those found in aviation and aerospace. Patrice writes:
“Even if today more and more companies are integrating sustainability in their strategy, some business sectors already run practices and capabilities which can be extrapolated, adapted for circular economy (see article PLM for CE). These sectors deal with large complex systems with long cycle as examples: Nuclear Plants, Transportation systems, Buildings and Civil Work Infrastructures, Aircraft, Naval ships, submarines…”
Image courtesy of CIMPA PLM Services
“The complexity, the size of these systems, the duration and the costs of their development encourage their exploitation the longest time possible with maintenance, improvement, adaptation of their performances. Numerous of these products have also sensitive impacts (or risks) on the environment and people health (ex.: aeronautic, nuclear, building, Spatial vehicles…)”
Learn more by continue to read this timely LinkedIn Newsletter from Patrice HERE
The PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA) is excited to announce that Patrice Quencez, Director Consultant and Deputy Director of CIMPA PLM Services, has volunteered to lead our coverage of the role of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) strategies, technologies, and solutions in creating a new global Circular Economy.
The concept of the Circular Economy (CE) is straight forward enough: to keep products and their component materials in use for a longer time before they are discarded with the value lost forever. However, the process of creating an inherently more sustainable decarbonized circular economy from the current carbon-intensive linear economy is not as simple.
PLM & Sustainability with Circular Economy: How PLM sustains Sustainability & Circular Economy
This article published as a LinkedIn Newsletter by PLM Green Circular Economy moderator Patrice Quencez from CIMPA PLM Services introduces a reading grid using a systemic approach to scope PLM levers to tackle Sustainability-Circular Economy and frame concrete actions forward.
In the article, Patrice discusses:
The different systems, players involved in the sustainability.
The areas of the PLM contributions through development / operations value chains and their digital enablers.
The positions, roles of Circular Economy within these value chains and again which PLM levers are specifically addressed.
Learn why PLM digital platforms are the key enablers to develop sustainability thru a Circular Economy by reading the complete article here.
The PLM solution provider Aras has announced availability of the white paper “The Circular Economy as a Model for the Future.”
Image Courtesy of Aras
The paper authors write “Awareness of sustainability is growing. Today’s consumers are often making an extra effort to purchase products whose suppliers produce them in an environmentally friendly way, recycle, and use natural ingredients. This represents a fundamental societal shift that puts pressure on every company.”
Answers to the following questions and more can be found in the white paper.
How can companies and their products become more sustainable?
How can they manage their entry into the circular economy?
What digital tools are already available to help with this initiative?
Of particular interest is the discussion on the role of PLM to provide traceability of product data and the use of digital twin models to connect the digital thread.
The paper includes an insightful interview with German automotive supplier Grammer Ag on how they will use PLM data management capabilities to meet their sustainability goals.
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 Sustainabilitywhere we next hope to learn about examples of progress in sustainability being made by solution providers, their partners and customers.
Our inaugural interview was with Darren West, Product Manager Lead for SAP’s Circular Economy Solutions, who is based in the United Kingdom. We were excited to speak with SAP after reading their numerous recent announcements about the importance of sustainability and hear how they “walk the talk.”
From a recent World Economic Forum article “The circular economy can help save the planet if we start innovating now – Transitioning to a holistic circular economic model is critical to reducing environmental degradation and prioritizing biodiversity and nature, while also delivering on future competitiveness. In a circular economy, waste is designed out, and products are instead looped back into the production system at end of use. Consequently, growth is decoupled from the consumption of scarce resources, and materials are kept within productive use for as long as possible.”
“The circular economy presents a unique market opportunity upwards of $4.5 trillion by 2030. Accelerating this transition relies on the uptake of innovative new business models and disruptive technological innovation. Alongside prioritization of new business models, which now account for roughly 30% of M&A investment according to Accenture analysis, adopting new digital, physical and biological technologies can drive new opportunities and deliver on organizations’ triple bottom line.”
From a World Circular Economy Forum + Climate press release: “The circular economy is crucial to achieving the Paris climate goals – If we are to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, the world needs to transition to a circular economy.
A circular economy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 20 per cent and should thus be an integral part of the agreements made in the Paris Climate Agreement. The World Circular Economy Forum + Climate is the online conference to draw attention to the importance of a circular economy in reaching the climate goals.”
PLM Green Alliance moderator Bjorn Fidjeland recommends reading the KPMG report on “Resourcing the energy transition: making the world go round” which explores the transition to renewable energy, a growing dependence on natural resources other than oil, and the crucial link to the circular economy.
From the KPMG website “A net-zero world is dependent upon renewable energies to replace traditional power sources…. But there is a threat to supplies of the mined mineral and metals that drive these green technologies. In our latest report, Resourcing the energy transition: Making the world go round, we explain how the circular economy can help address these challenges. Reusing, recycling and repurposing metals and materials can contribute to surety of supply, and potentially reduce waste, pollution and carbon emissions by minimizing the need for extraction.”
The graph below, produced by KPMG in the report, on the supply country of origin and uses of rare earth minerals for green energy capture, distribution and storage is especially informative if not somewhat worrisome.
In this whitepaper on “PLM and Product Design for a Circular Economy“ from Infosys the authors write: “In order to achieve the building blocks of a circular economy, there are two broad initiatives that equipment suppliers should adopt for product development in its evolution to match industry needs. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the workflow platform on which these changes can be implemented.” Read more HERE
From Linear to Circularis one of Ellen MacArthur Foundations’ flagship learning programmes aimed at postgraduate students and professionals at the start of their circular economy career. It is a fantastic opportunity if you want to bring greater purpose to your work or research and want to become a circular economy advocate and catalyst within your organisation. Learn more HERE.
Completing the Picture: How the Circular Economy Tackles Climate Change– From the Ellen MacArthur Foundation “Completing the Picture highlights the indispensable role that the circular economy plays in tackling the climate crisis. It aims to demonstrate how circular economy principles and strategies significantly reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.” Read this important paperHERE.
“Rebooting PLM for a Circular Economy – Product lifecycle management needs a reboot. Growing concerns about sustainability, combined with recent technology advances, have driven the need to redefine product lifecycle management (PLM).” Read more in this Forbes Council Post from Jeff Kavanaugh.
