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 Sustainability is now a mainstream requirement from governments, regulators, and customers. In this brief we summarize some current trends in the area of PLM tools to support rapid engineering assessment of environmental footprint among the many engineering choices. Engineering and science-based tools to quickly guide hardware engineers toward material selection and product configuration choices with reduced environmental footprint are critical to our future.

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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 industry customers.

This time, PLM Green co-founder Jos Voskuil and Climate Change Moderator Klaus Brettschneider met with the founder and CEO of Sustaira, Vincent de la Mar. Sustaira provides the infrastructure and expertise for building sustainability apps based on the low-code development platform Mendix. Through its use of and relationship with Mendix, a 2018 acquisition by Siemens, Sustaira is a Siemens Digital Industries ecosystem partner as announced earlier this year.

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Siemens Engineer Innovation for a Sustainable World

(May, 2022) PLM solution provider Siemens Digital Industries Software announces a new edition of Engineer Innovation focused exclusively on sustainability with the publication of “Engineer Innovation for a Sustainable World.” The authors write:

“Our civilization is quite literally built on oil, coal, and gas. Since the Industrial Revolution humans have become entirely dependent on a cheap and plentiful supply of fossil fuels.”

Image Credit Siemens Digital Industries Software

“They feed us, light our evenings, fuel our movements, keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and provide endless piles of disposable “things” that we use every day. In the past 250 years, we have released over 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (and oceans). During 2021, atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached a record-level increase of 50% relative to pre-industrial CO2 levels.

“In the next years to come, we certainly are going to have to engineer a future without fossil fuels. That transition is the biggest engineering challenge that we have ever faced and will only be possible through the use of simulation and test.”

Learn more by downloading the e-book directly from Siemens HERE.

Daimler Truck Uses Siemens Simulation To Reduce Emissions

The following example on the use of CFD simulation within the transportation industry is from a recent announcement by Siemens Digital Industries Software.

“Siemens Digital Industries Software today announced that Daimler Truck has adopted Siemens’ Simcenter™ STAR-CCM+™ software to develop next-generation, CO2-neutral vehicles. Simcenter, part of Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio, will provide Daimler Truck with the leading-edge computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution it needs to transform its CAE development process to a full digital twin-driven multiphysics environment.

Image courtesy of Siemens Digital Industries Software and Daimler Truck

Daimler Truck plans to use Simcenter to improve aerodynamic performance, as well as explore and optimize innovative e-mobility propulsion and energy management systems including battery cooling and hydrogen technology. The software will also help support legacy combustion engine and exhaust system design and associated CO2 reduction.”

Learn more by reading the complete press release HERE.

Sustaira Announces Beta Version of Enterprise Sustainability Application

(April, 2022) Just months after formalizing partnerships with Siemens Digital Industries Software and low-code application platform Mendix, Sustaira proudly announces the launch of the beta version of the Sustaira Sustainability and ESG Application Platform.

Among the first customers of Sustaira are organizations of all sizes, in different regions, and within a variety of industries, such as conglomerate Siemens Canada, renewable energy solutions provider Inovateus Solar, Xavier University of Louisiana, and manufacturer Logistick, Inc.

This beta version of the platform allows users to explore and demo the various Sustaira applications, such as ESG and Sustainability Goals and KPI Tracking, Emission Calculators, Carbon Accounting including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, reporting and disclosures. For organizations interested in learning more, they can request early access to a trial and demo account.

Read the full press release at https://www.sustaira.com/news/sustaira-launches-beta-version-of-sustainability-and-esg-app-platform.