Environmental impact modeling of discrete part manufacturing processes

Abstract

Environmental analyses of standalone unit manufacturing processes as well as full process chains indicate improvement potential at machine tool architecture, process control as well as production planning level leading to lower environmental footprints of discrete part manufacturing processes. This paper presents a framework, illustrated by a case-study for laser cutting, to establish parametric environmental process models, for example to be used in simulation tools. Furthermore, the framework supports the development of generic LCI-datasets based on comparing and aggregating environmental analyses of a range of similar machine tools (several suppliers and machine tool capacities).