Fast-track your circular product development

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To stay ahead, manufacturers must develop innovative, circular products. But how can it be done quickly and cost-effectively? Where are the quickest wins?

LCA - Life Cycle Assessment
To understand the total environmental impact of a product, a full-scale LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) can be carried out. It provides a complete breakdown of a product’s impact from cradle to grave, which is the ideal foundation for developing a next-generation product. However, an LCA is a costly and lengthy process that requires a lot of data that might not be available. It also only applies post-launch, which won’t help if you are developing a completely new design.

LCA Screening
Fortunately, a full product lifecycle assessment is not the only way forward. For manufacturers that don’t have the resources to do a full LCA, or when it is unnecessary, impractical, or impossible to do one, LCA Screening is the answer. It is the fastest and most effective way to identify ways to reduce the environmental impact of new product designs. In fact, in most cases, LCA Screening is the best option.

Identifying environmental hotspots
“We support many of our customers in the product design phase, and one common tool we use is LCA Screening,” says Magnus Westerdahl, Product Development & Sustainability Consultant. “Using an existing product or an early product concept as a baseline, we can analyze it to see where the biggest environmental impacts occur, in other words, what are the `hotspots´. Often designers have an idea of what these may be and the LCA Screening either confirm this or provide other more relevant areas to target. Based on the screening data, new designs can be developed with a lower environmental impact.”

Product, component and production analysis
LCA Screening is a highly flexible tool as it can be used to get an overview of a product, i.e., the total amount of raw materials used, or an assessment can be drilled down to individual component level. It can also be used to analyze the environmental impacts of a production process. Using dedicated software, data on everything from CO2 emissions and ozone depletion to expected landfill at end of life can be provided. However, the insights are based on aggregated data for the specific industry, rather than specific product and production data.

High industry uptake
“LCA Screening is becoming more common as manufacturers look to reduce their environmental footprints whether it’s to meet regulations, meet customer demands or lower costs,” he continues. “Depending on the industry and product, the hotspots vary considerably. In one project, we were surprised to find that the most prominent hotspot was emissions from service vehicles. So, we worked to minimize the need for service visits – something that impacted product development and the business model. On another project, we found that aluminum should be targeted for reduction and developed designs accordingly. That’s the power of LCA Screening, it can be applied to virtually any business.”

Better, more sustainable products
“Of course, LCA Screening is just a first step. Once you know the areas for improvement, you need to develop products accordingly, whether that means using and sourcing new materials or a design rethink. But having this data – rather than simply making assumptions – has been a real benefit to both our clients and me when developing sustainable products. At the end of the day, we want to help our clients create better and more sustainable products and LCA Screening is a powerful tool to facilitate that,” concludes Magnus.

Getting started with circular
For manufacturers that haven’t introduced circular thinking into their design process, the best way to start is with a pilot project on a pending new product design. An LCA Screening doesn’t have to be a major undertaking, but the data provided can help a company take the first critical steps to implementing circular design. And in today’s world, that is a step worth taking for all the right reasons.

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Magnus Westerdahl, Product Development & Sustainability Consultant
Magnus has been conducting LCA Screening since 2012. As a mechanical and industrial designer, he believes LCA Screening tools should be part of every design team’s toolkit as circular design becomes the norm.

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