Eyes on emissions:

How design engineers can influence the Product Carbon Footprint

Question mark Which emissions are produced during the manufacture, use and disposal of a product? This issue is becoming increasingly important for manufacturing companies. Legal requirements must be met, consumers expect sustainably produced products and energy saving is also important from an economic perspective.

Design engineers and developers in particular need to focus on this issue as approximately 80% of future costs and emissions are determined in the construction phase. The choice of materials, processing methods and manufacturing techniques has a significant impact on the Product Carbon Footprint.

Exclamation mark Our simus classmate software provides answers to these pressing issues. By systematically analysing the model and automatically assigning manufacturing processes, processing stages and machines, our customers receive reliable and comprehensible information that can be directly used to calculate the Product Carbon Footprint.

What is the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)?

The Product Carbon Footprint measures the total greenhouse gas emissions during the entire life cycle of a product. This life cycle includes raw materials, manufacturing/processing, use and disposal, as well as distribution costs such as transport or research & development.

Compiling the data for this calculation both internally and externally is a complex task. The simus classmate software provides assistance with detailed information made available to design engineers – especially during the product manufacturing phase.

#backgroundknowledge: Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Basis for EU legislation (European Green Deal, CO2 neutral by 2050)

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is an internationally recognised standard for recording, reporting and managing the greenhouse gas emissions of companies.

The terms Scope 1, 2 and 3 are categories in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and are used to systematically classify a company’s greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 1 comprises direct emissions from the company’s own sources, such as emissions from the combustion of fuels at company facilities. Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions generated from the purchase of electricity, steam or heat.

Scope 3 on the other hand covers all other indirect emissions that are not included in Scope 1 or 2. This includes, for instance, emissions from the entire supply chain, business travel, employee commuting and the end use of products.

How the simus classmate software assists with the calculation of the Product Carbon Footprint:

Software-based automated calculation of costs and emissions

Focus on in-house manufacturing

Transparency thanks to comprehensible system

Detailed output of calculations for a broad range of applications

The calculation process with simus classmate

simus classmate calculates the CO₂ emissions during the manufacture of parts by systematically analysing the CAD model and automatically assigning manufacturing processes, processing steps and machines according to the bottom-up approach. The outcome is extremely detailed cost and emissions results for the component and a comprehensive work plan.

#backgroundknowledge: calculation methods

Bottum-up vs. Top-down

There are different ways to calculate the carbon footprint.

The top-down approach starts with the total emissions of a product, company or other entity, and divides this into subordinate process stages. This approach allows a quick assessment, however it is susceptible to generalisations and inaccuracies as specific process details are neglected.

For the bottom-up approach, emissions are measured accurately from bottom to top at every level, from raw material extraction to the end product. This requires precise data at the individual process levels. The bottom-up approach provides much greater transparency of costs and emissions and therefore considerably better approaches to optimisation, but it is dependent on reliable information.

In practice, hybrid approaches are often used, combining elements of both methods. These integrated models try to combine the benefits of the accuracy of the bottom-up approach with the efficiency of the top-down approach to provide a balanced assessment of the Product Carbon Footprint.

Free webinars simus systems

Webinar: How simus classmate calculates the Product Carbon Footprint

Transparency at last! Design engineers can identify CO2 emissions directly on the component.
In around 30 minutes, we explain in German how you can use simus classmate to determine the emissions of your components.

How does simus systems automatically calculate product emissions in such detail?

The clever part: We use our proven classmate PLAN software which is already being successfully used by hundreds of customers for the preliminary calculation of components.

Thanks to the sophisticated component analysis and the possibility of linking to the individual production capacities of the company, the respective emissions of the raw materials, semi-finished products and production stages are now simply recorded instead of the costs. The technology databases used can be individually configured for each company.

Every single step of the manufacturing process is calculated precisely and individually for each component, e.g. contour milling, bore milling, deburring and painting. This diagram shows power consumption analysis with the example of milling. This makes it possible to see exactly which emissions are being produced and when, and means decisions can be taken to optimise the process.

These processes are automated once they have been set up for the first time and the PCF calculation becomes a matter of course!

Software screenshots

Emissions report Product Carbon Footprint

simus classmate provides you with very detailed information about each processing step.

The emissions are displayed according to unit, setup and lot size scaling.

Alignment with sustainability goals – for complex products too

Transparency and comparison of environmental impact for each component

Reliable basis for decisions on sustainability

Cradle-to-gate or Cradle-to-grave

With a detailed calculation of emissions during the production process (from raw material extraction to manufacture of the primary product and production of the final product), we provide our customers with valuable information about important levers for preventing greenhouse gas emissions. Depending on what additional information is available regarding product use and disposal, the Product Carbon Footprint can be developed according to the cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave principle.

It’s not only about CO2: calculation of CO2 equivalents

The PCF comprises the total greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product over the different phases of its life cycle. In addition to CO2, other gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are also included in the calculation, however their climate impact is expressed in CO2 equivalents for a better overview.

Did you know? You can also use our online tool costing24 to calculate the emissions of your component.

Try it out now!

Try the costing24 calculation tool »

Our simus classmate solution stands for data transparency and excellent data structure in the manufacturing industry.

We prepare your data in a flexible, efficient and systematic way for the best possible use in sophisticated digital processes. Surprise yourself with the potential of your data! We are happy to advise you on designing innovative and sustainable data processes.

Arrange a personal consultation appointment now »